The Role of a Writing Centre in Increasing Access to Academic Discourse in a Multilingual University

A report on the evaluation of the University of the Western Cape's Writing Centre discusses its initial 2 years of operation. The evaluation considers the appropriateness of a writing centre as a means to facilitate access to the academy in a context of a lack of resources and mass student need for support. Seven questions are considered, relating to: a needs analysis; the processes which occur in the project; impact of the project on the consultants; impact on the students; impact on lecturers; the modus operandi of the model; and its cost effectiveness. The evaluation demonstrates that a project which deals directly with student learning can only have a limited impact on students' access to academic discourse, given the variety of factors which influence student learning. It illustrates that the success of such a project depends on a variety of factors including institutional funding, change and curricular development.