Student Success Is Everyone's Business | Inside Stellenbosch University's Student Success Initiative
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Every year, thousands of students arrive at Stellenbosch University and find the gap between school and higher education wider than anyone warned them. Some struggle quietly. Most do not know a support system already exists, or how to reach it. This conversation is about closing that gap.
Jacolette Kloppers hosts the first in a series of about 10 conversations on Lunch Club, bringing together the people building the university's Student Success Initiative: Prof Liezl van Dyk, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, who joined SU on 1 July; Dr Melanie Petersen, Programme Manager: Student Access and Success; Dr Elmien Sinclair, Coordinator: Student Advice; and Ms Havemann-Serfontein, Manager: Student Success Programmes.
What we cover in this episode:
- What the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic actually does: Prof van Dyk describes her role as helping shape the academic journey of every student, providing strategic leadership for programme quality, teaching, academic support and progression. She explains how her portfolio meets that of Dean of Students Dr Leslie van Rooi: hers covers the experience inside the curriculum, his everything beyond it.
- Redefining student success: Success is far more than earning a degree. Prof van Dyk frames it as developing the knowledge, confidence and capabilities to flourish long after graduation, and argues it must sit at the centre of institutional strategy because it does not happen by accident. It is a shared responsibility across faculties, residences, commuter communities, advisers and support services.
- The ecosystem, layer by layer: Dr Petersen describes the initiative as a safety net woven around the student rather than something they must go looking for. She walks through the concentric circles: peer mentors closest to the student, faculty advisers who know each programme inside out, counsellors embedded in the faculties, psychologists at the CSCD, and data analysts behind the scenes. The theme puts it plainly: tying your success together, one knot at a time.
- What the data does, and what it does not do: Early warning indicators can flag a student who missed the welcoming programme, or whose progress has dipped. Dr Petersen is direct about the limits: the university is not invading personal space or targeting anyone. The purpose is to reach students before a small struggle becomes a crisis.
- Why lecturers matter: Lecturers are often the first to notice a dip in marks, an absence from class, or a student who is not themselves. Dr Petersen explains the shift from "hurdle modules" to high-impact modules, and how early assessment data lets lecturers intervene rather than wait for failure.
- Scholarship programmes as prototype: Ms Havemann-Serfontein outlines the Dell Young Leaders programme, which has onboarded 1 300 primarily NSFAS-funded students at SU, alongside ISFAP and the Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation programme. All three combine funding with academic, psychosocial and career coaching. No student needs to be on one to access the wider initiative.
- Four reasons students struggle: Dr Sinclair dismantles the myth that struggling means you are not clever enough. Difficulty is what learning is supposed to feel like. University is a different world from school in workload and independence. And financial pressure, family responsibility, loneliness, language and health issues rarely arrive one at a time.
- How to reach out: Start with your faculty, the CSCD, your programme team, your residence or a mentor. Ms Havemann-Serfontein is unequivocal that it is never too late, even after failing a module. Needing help is a sign that you are human, not a sign that you do not belong.
Where to find support:
Visit www.sun.ac.za, click "Students" and select "Student Success".
Email studysuccess@sun.ac.za and you will be contacted within 24 hours.
Stream MFM 92.6: www.mfm.co.za
Follow us on socials: @mfm926
Jacolette Kloppers hosts the first in a series of about 10 conversations on Lunch Club, bringing together the people building the university's Student Success Initiative: Prof Liezl van Dyk, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, who joined SU on 1 July; Dr Melanie Petersen, Programme Manager: Student Access and Success; Dr Elmien Sinclair, Coordinator: Student Advice; and Ms Havemann-Serfontein, Manager: Student Success Programmes.
What we cover in this episode:
- What the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic actually does: Prof van Dyk describes her role as helping shape the academic journey of every student, providing strategic leadership for programme quality, teaching, academic support and progression. She explains how her portfolio meets that of Dean of Students Dr Leslie van Rooi: hers covers the experience inside the curriculum, his everything beyond it.
- Redefining student success: Success is far more than earning a degree. Prof van Dyk frames it as developing the knowledge, confidence and capabilities to flourish long after graduation, and argues it must sit at the centre of institutional strategy because it does not happen by accident. It is a shared responsibility across faculties, residences, commuter communities, advisers and support services.
- The ecosystem, layer by layer: Dr Petersen describes the initiative as a safety net woven around the student rather than something they must go looking for. She walks through the concentric circles: peer mentors closest to the student, faculty advisers who know each programme inside out, counsellors embedded in the faculties, psychologists at the CSCD, and data analysts behind the scenes. The theme puts it plainly: tying your success together, one knot at a time.
- What the data does, and what it does not do: Early warning indicators can flag a student who missed the welcoming programme, or whose progress has dipped. Dr Petersen is direct about the limits: the university is not invading personal space or targeting anyone. The purpose is to reach students before a small struggle becomes a crisis.
- Why lecturers matter: Lecturers are often the first to notice a dip in marks, an absence from class, or a student who is not themselves. Dr Petersen explains the shift from "hurdle modules" to high-impact modules, and how early assessment data lets lecturers intervene rather than wait for failure.
- Scholarship programmes as prototype: Ms Havemann-Serfontein outlines the Dell Young Leaders programme, which has onboarded 1 300 primarily NSFAS-funded students at SU, alongside ISFAP and the Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation programme. All three combine funding with academic, psychosocial and career coaching. No student needs to be on one to access the wider initiative.
- Four reasons students struggle: Dr Sinclair dismantles the myth that struggling means you are not clever enough. Difficulty is what learning is supposed to feel like. University is a different world from school in workload and independence. And financial pressure, family responsibility, loneliness, language and health issues rarely arrive one at a time.
- How to reach out: Start with your faculty, the CSCD, your programme team, your residence or a mentor. Ms Havemann-Serfontein is unequivocal that it is never too late, even after failing a module. Needing help is a sign that you are human, not a sign that you do not belong.
Where to find support:
Visit www.sun.ac.za, click "Students" and select "Student Success".
Email studysuccess@sun.ac.za and you will be contacted within 24 hours.
Stream MFM 92.6: www.mfm.co.za
Follow us on socials: @mfm926
