Black University Students in South Africa: The Influence of Sociocultural Factors on Study and Performance

Ethnographic research was undertaken to determine which, and how, sociocultural factors influence the academic performance of black students at a distance‐education university in South Africa. A contextual and individualistic‐holistic approach to case studies was applied. Performance was found to be related to various sociocultural and other factors that included: inadequate preparation for schooling, poor conditions and teaching in schools, unfamiliarity with the university's culture of learning, inefficient learning styles, problems with the organization of study and the use of available study time, language difficulties, economic, and physical environmental factors. Underlying these interlinked factors are the politics of apartheid and black cultural ideas and way of life.