The Doris Crossley Foundation provides funding for undergraduate students mainly at UCT and SU.
Each year a new cohort enters the university arena and each year the same set of issues come up. In an anonymous questionnaire students claimed to feel alienated, overwhelmed, pressed for time, insecure, ignorant, lonely and tired. Obviously it is not all negative but in an endeavour to address the issues described above, The Doris Crossley Foundation has run a series of workshops with the first year students.
We are extremely fortunate to have as a consultant, Ms Annette Miller, and our first workshop of every year involves the completion of an online inventory which determines personality type. Armed with this self-knowledge we work with the students in helping them to understand their strengths and their weaknesses. Any issues that are flagged are then dealt with on a one to one basis with Ms Miller.
The feedback we receive from these workshops indicate that the students feel less alone, less isolated and significantly buoyed by the knowledge that everyone is feeling the same pressure to some degree or another.
One of the things we have learned over the years of being involved with undergraduate students, is that very often failure to perform is simply a matter of having chosen the wrong course – this is where Ms Miller’s assistance is invaluable as she provides sound and logic options for students who might be feeling trapped by their decisions.
