Students’ knowledge of teaching and learning centre and its services in a small rural-based comprehensive university

Abstract

The South African higher education system has been battling with issues of access, quality and equity to address the social injustices of the past. There are structures and policies within institutions designed to address massification, unpreparedness and under-preparedness of students. In South Africa, Teaching and Learning Centres (T&L) centres or centres for Teaching and Learning (CTL centres) were established to essentially promote quality learning and teaching, and improve the graduate throughput rate by offering services geared to this mandate. It is not clear if this mandate has been duly executed, as the higher education system still finds itself in throughput rate crisis. Based on such challenges emanating from higher education systems, this study aims to investigate students’ knowledge and understanding of services offered by a teaching and learning centre in a rural based university. This quantitative survey paper draws from Drew’s (2010) recommendations which highlight the need for an investigation into the usage of academic development units within various teaching and learning centres in universities across the different schools or faculties. This paper provides the investigation solemnly focused on students, as they are key stakeholders meant to benefit from the services provided in a learning centre in the university. A convenience sampling procedure was adopted to sample respondents who completed questionnaire with both closed-ended and open-ended questions. Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for quantitative data analysis while qualitative data were thematically analysed. The paper identified several issues pertaining to students’ knowledge of teaching and learning centre and its services that mirror how T&L Centres, due to their positionality and institutional culture, are involuntarily undermined and misunderstood.