University of the Free State’s Student Success Efforts Honored by Kresge Grant
In July 2024, the University of the Free State (UFS) received a grant of R4,4 million from the Kresge Foundation to continue its sector-leading student success research and innovation. The grant is part of the Siyaphumelela 3.0 (‘We Succeed’) initiative.
Commenting on the grant, Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and institutional project lead for Siyaphumelela, said: “This grant is recognition of the UFS’ sector-leading research and innovation in the field of student success.”
The Siyaphumelela project is a collaborative effort with various stakeholders within the UFS, such as the CTL, the Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning (DIRAP), Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS), Student Affairs, and faculties, exploring trends based on data to design and implement initiatives that impact student success. These include objectives in studying the student learning experience post-COVID, examining the gender gap in higher education, exploring student learning bottlenecks in high-risk modules, contextualised artificial intelligence interventions, and collaboration with the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) based at the Georgia State University in the United States.
Siyaphumelela is a national initiative that – for the first time – includes 21 partner institutions across South Africa. “Siyaphumelela seeks to build institutional capacity to collect and analyse student data to determine when and why students are not succeeding so that institutions can focus on the most effective interventions through the learnings of the expanded network” (https://www.siyaphumelela.org.za/). Funded by the American-based Kresge Foundation, which has invested close to $30 million to promote South African higher education access and success, the third phase of this programme will build on the experiences of the past two iterations of Siyaphumelela 1.0 and 2.0. Saide will continue to coordinate it.