| Summary/Abstract |
One of the major debates in South African higher education is whether or not certain universities have lowered their academic standards by admitting academically underprepared students. However, these debates reflect the official voice of higher education institutions and there is little analytical work on students’ perceptions and experiences of their academic progress, particularly those of low-income students. Taking a cue from Merleau-Ponty on the salience of perceptions in his phenomenology of perception, this study analyses students’ perceptions and the quality of the undergraduate experience in one faculty at a South African university using the institution’s Student Profile Questionnaire Survey dataset and linking this to their academic progress from 2008 to 2013. The analysis points to the deleterious effects of race and class on the academic progress of low-income students. The study employs the capability approach, which is premised on enabling wellbeing, social justice and the development of a conducive environment for human prosperity, and ascertaining the capabilities and constraints of individual students in relation to their academic progress at university.
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