The Experiences of First-time Entering Students of the Faculty of Education at a Selected University, Eastern Cape, South Africa – An Exploration

A first-time entering student has never registered at any university in the system before and is entering the university at an undergraduate level for the first time and for the first undergraduate qualification. This experience is often a novel one, fraught with challenges. This study, therefore, explored the experiences of first-time entering students at a selected Eastern Cape university who are registered for the Bachelor of Education in 2024. The study used a qualitative research methodology that sought to study the lived experiences of the participants at the university. Participants were selected through purposive sampling as researchers had deemed them to be knowledgeable about the problem under study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews that were conducted face-to-face as a conversation to allow probing on the participants’ responses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. The findings of the study revealed that first-time entering students encountered major challenges in transitioning from high school to a higher education institution. The study recommended that the university should have a system in place for how to include and adjust new students at the university to cope with the new environment. State the contribution of this study to scholarship.