VDM Essack, S: Peer Mentoring in Higher Education : Alienation t

Higher education has become a site of contestation for many stakeholders such as administrators, academics, students, funders and government. Interestingly, emerging challenges are unprecedented. One of the key challenges in a developing society is the high failure rate among first year students. These students are seen to lack the necessary educational tools to negotiate the terrain of higher education, successfully. Cultural differences and individual insecurities serve to hamper meaningful integration into a highly sophisticated system of learning This book explores how peer facilitated mentoring at a university in South Africa, the Westville campus of the University of Natal, potentially addresses the academic and social needs of first-year and first generation university students in a manner that reconciles the complex interplay between institutional forces and individual socio-cultural histories without compromising the integrity of either. The theoretical and practical application of this study has a broader global appeal, especially those societies grappling with issues of cultural divergence and its impact on academic performance.