Race, education and emancipation: A five-year longitudinal, qualitative study of agency and impasses to success amongst higher education students in a sample of South African universities: year 4

This annual progress report documents the ongoing engagement with data generated and gathered in the fourth year (2016) of the longitudinal qualitative study entitled 'Race, Education and Emancipation1: A five-year longitudinal, qualitative study of agency and impasses to success amongst higher education students in a sample of South African universities' conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on behalf of the Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity (CCRRI) as part of their Education and Emancipation programme of research for the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The initial terms of reference for the Education and Emancipation study identified the socio-economic challenges African and Coloured students, in particular, face in accessing and staying in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Council for Higher Education (CHE) in their 2013 report recognize that 'increasing the access and completion rates of the African and Coloured students depends much on addressing the social and economic factors - the persistent and far-reaching effects of poverty and associated inequalities' (CHE, 2013: 54). Similarly, Letseka, Cosser, Breier and Visser (2010), in their study of student retention and graduate destination across seven HET institutions in South Africa, note that the high dropout rates for African and Coloured students are directly tied to a lack of financial resources.