Students’ well-being in tertiary environments: insights into the (unrecognised) role of lecturers

This qualitative study reports on the role of university lecturers in the well-being of undergraduate students. A sample of undergraduate student participants (n = 335) at a large, urban residential university in the Gauteng Province of South Africa participated in rapid, face-to-face interviews. Interviews were conducted by student fieldworkers during multiple 4-h blocks on all weekdays. Data were analysed by means of thematic analysis. Findings indicate that university lecturers play a substantive role in the well-being of undergraduate students. These findings are significant in that they have emerged from open-ended questioning. Furthermore, the role of university lecturers is frequently unrecognised in terms of the psychological well-being of students and rather articulated in terms of the academic task. The findings present the role of lecturers in student well-being in a multi-faceted way. It is delineated as lecturer support, benevolence, lecturer competence, lecturer availability, interaction, and the lecturer’s attitude towards their work.