Transition to university : perceptions of first year Humanities students from impoverished backgrounds at the University of Cape Town

This study sought to explore the transitional experiences of students from a disadvantaged background at the University Cape Town (UCT). It set out to examine how students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds negotiated hardships stemming from their historically deprived backgrounds in their transition to university. Purposive sampling was employed in this study and seventeen first year humanities students from rural and township backgrounds were interviewed using a semi-structured interviewing schedule. Interviews were recorded on a digital recorder, transcribed and analysed using qualitative methods drawing on Tesch's eight step model, (cited in De Vos et al , Strydom, Fouche and Delport, 2005)