A holistic approach to preparing disadvantaged students to succeed in tertiary science studies. Part I. Design of the Science Foundation Programme (SFP)

Abstract

In 1990 of the 143 students who completed a BSc at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, only nine (6%) were black. (For the purposes of this paper, ‘black’ will exclude Indians and people of mixed race.) The Science Faculty committed itself to trying to increase the abysmally small number of black students obtaining science degrees by deciding to launch the Science Foundation Programme (SFP). The task of the SFP was formidable, namely to try, by means of a one‐year intervention, to help black students sufficiently overcome their academic disadvantage in order to enable them to succeed in tertiary study in the sciences or applied sciences. Given the challenging nature of the task, it was imperative to plan the programme carefully. Moreover, reflective modification of the programme in the three years since the SFP began has been essential in order to better tailor the programme to the needs of its students. Part I describes the design of the programme and the design process itself. Part II describes the implementation and ongoing development of the programme, including student responses to a number of aspects, and results obtained to date.