INTRODUCTION

Student absenteeism is a major concern forlecturers at institutions of higher learning. Absen-ces create a dead, tiresome, unpleasant classroomenvironment that makes students who come toclass uncomfortable and the lecturer irritable(Marburger 2001). Absenteeism disturbs thedynamic teaching-learning environment and ad-versely affects the overall well-being of classes(Segal 2008). In quality terms, absenteeism is awaste of educational resources, time and humanpotential. Student absenteeism also causes reworkand wasted time for lecturers (Lalek 1995;Rumberger 1997). Lecturers who spend class timere-teaching lessons take instructional time awayfrom students who attend class regularly, and theextra time spent going over absentee homeworkand class assignments takes time away fromlecturer planning periods and time needed toprovide individual assistance (Weller 1996). Whenstudents are absent from class, they miss valu-able information resulting from peer-lecturerinteraction and the benefits of the specific exam-ples lecturers use to clarify difficult concepts.This valuable part of the learning experiencecannot be replicated when lecturers re-teach

Kamla-Raj 2011 J Soc Sci, 26(2): 89-97 (2011)

Causes and Structural Effects of Student Absenteeism:A Case Study of Three South African Universities

Newman Wadesango and Severino Machingambi

Centre for Learning and Teaching Development, Walter Sisulu University,Republic of South Africa

KEYWORDS Absenteeism. University. South Africa. Students

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate the extent of student absenteeism in selected universities inSouth Africa, explore the reasons why student absent themselves from classes and examine the implications of studentabsenteeism. The study adopted the mixed methodology and used a survey research design as the operational frame-work for data gathering. Data were collected by self administered questionnaires and interviews with one hundred andtwenty-six students from three universities in South Africa. The study revealed that student absenteeism is rampantin the universities under study due to reasons such as: lack of subject interest, poor teaching strategies by lecturers,unfavourable learning environment, too much socialization, part-time jobs to augment meagre bursaries granted byvarious sponsors and poor relations with the lecturers. The study also found an inverse relationship between studentabsenteeism and course performance.

the material to absentee students (Weller 1996;Williams 2000).

It is important to note that a primary issue ofchronic absenteeism is not that there is no excuseprovided, but rather, the excuse is not a valid one.According to Williams (2000), students who haveabsenteeism problems generally suffer acade-mically and socially. Studies indicate that stu-dents who are absent have lower achievementand may be penalized on test scores (Barker andJansen 2000). Sustained absences may affectretention as it may degenerate into truancy (Lotzand Lee 1999; Barker and Jansen 2000). Theimplications of absenteeism are felt outside theclassroom as well (Williams 2000). Continued lossof instruction or poor academic achievementamong students with high absenteeism are ess-ential characteristics of students who later dropout of school (Mayer and Mitchel 1996). Lotz andLee (1999) indicate that acts of delinquency aremore frequent among students who exhibit lowgrades, have spotty attendance, and later on dropout of school.

According to Enomoto (1997), students whomissed class on a given date were significantlymore likely to respond incorrectly to questionsrelating to material covered that day than studentswho were present. The hypothesis that classattendance is likely to be correlated with studentlearning has been investigated empirically ineconomic education literature. Most surprisingly,most studies have found an inverse relationshipbetween absenteeism and course performance(Marburger 2001). The relation between atten-

Address for correspondence:Dr. Newman Wadesango,Centre for Learning and Teaching Development,Walter Sisulu University,CPDU, P.Bag x 3182, Butterworth,Republic of South AfricaE-mail:nwadesango@wsu.ac.zanewmanwadesango@yahoo.com

NEWMAN WADESANGO AND SEVERINO MACHINGAMBI

dance and performance in one large lecture coursesuggest that attendance may substantially affectlearning. The difference in performance betweena student who attends regularly and one whoattends sporadically is about a full letter grade(Bowen 2005).

Lotz and Lee (1999) corroborate that studentscite a negative self-image and low self-esteem asreasons for non-attendance. According to Eno-moto (1997), when students perceive that lecturersdo not care enough to follow up on absences,their motivation for attendance is not high.Interestingly, a converse view of compulsory at-tendance is provided by Lotz and Lee (1999) ascontributing to and furthering the absenteeproblem. Forcing older students to remain inschool when they are not motivated will onlyincrease their absenteeism (Williams 1999).Studies indicate that absenteeism is caused by anumber of factors such as: lack of interesting andchallenging curriculum; a desire for hedonisticactivities with peers; negative self-image and self-esteem; lack of subject interest; lack of personalinterest in studies; the mental capacity of astudent does not match with the course opted;the poor teaching skills of a lecturer also keepaway students from school; lack of confidence ina lecturer; inadequate relations between a studentand their lecturer and distance to university(Mayer and Mitchell 1996; Weller 1996; Williams2000; Marburger 2001). It is, therefore, againstthis background that this empirical study soughtto investigate the causes and effects of studentabsenteeism in three universities in the Republicof South Africa.

Research Questions

1. What are the causes of student absenteeismin institutions of higher learning?

2. What are the effects of student absenteeism?

METHODOLOGY

The study employed both qualitative andquantitative methodologies (mixed methodology).A quantitative approach was adopted in order toallow the researcher to gather more precise andquantifiable information on the causes and effectsof absenteeism. The qualitative methodologywas also appropriate to this study because itallowed the researchers to get the data directlyfrom the subjects themselves by sitting with therespondents and hear their views, voices, per-

ceptions and expectations in detail. Thus, theresearcher recognised several nuances of attitudeand behavior that could escape researchers usingother methods.

The research design that was used in thisstudy was the descriptive survey method. Babbieand Mouton (2001) define the descriptive surveyas The method of research that simply lookswith intense accuracy at the phenomena of themoment and then describes precisely what theresearch sees. Descriptive survey is probablythe best method which is available to use in col-lecting data for the purpose of describing a po-pulation large enough to observe directly. Suchsurveys, according to Bassey (1995), are also ex-cellent vehicles for the measurement of attitudesand orientations prevalent in a large population.

The population for this study was 126 stu-dents from 3 selected institutions of higher lear-ning in South Africa. Each University contribu-ted 42 participants. The research used a conve-nience sample and the participation to the studywas voluntary.

The main instrument that was used to solicitfor information was the questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaires with open- endedand closed questions were used for data collec-tion. Research assistants were used to distributethe questionnaires. The number of returnedquestionnaires was 13 (16%). Interviews were alsoheld with some of the students. Through the useof interviews, the interviewer was able to elaborateon issues and questions as well as clarifying themeaning of statements, answers or questions thatmay not have been clear to the interviewee. Semi-structured interviews were conducted becausethe researchers wanted the respondents to givetheir detailed views, opinions and perceptionswith regard to causes of student absenteeism. Inanalyzing qualitative data, categories were iden-tified and put into themes for presentation anddiscussion. For quantitative data, some descri-ptive statistics including percentages were used.

In this study, confidentiality ethic was ensu-red by using secret codes for all interview tran-scripts and the names of the participants wereconcealed. The research was therefore conductedwith respect and concern for the dignity and wel-fare of the informants.

RESULTS

From the findings of this research, it becameevident that the problem of absenteeism was quite

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prevalent in the three universities that partici-pated in the study. Thus, in order to get to thebottom of the problem, this study sought to iso-late major factors that give rise to this problem.The findings of the study thus revolved aroundthe following categories.

Incidence of Absenteeism

On this item all the respondents (100%)reported that they had missed classes severaltimes during the semester in which the study wasconducted. On a follow up item that sought toestablish the degree of absenteeism the statisticswere recorded in Table 1.

I need money to add to what the governmentpays towards my education. The state funds arevery inadequate for all our needs so we have tosee what we can do.

From these responses, it is clear that socio-economic factors play a significant role in theabsenteeism problem. An important issue thatcomes to the fore here is that lecture attendanceis affected by factors well beyond the studentcontrol. As a probe, students were asked to indi-cate the total number of hours per week that theynormally spent working. This information wasimportant as it was meant to measure the fre-quency and degree of work-related absenteeism(Table 2).

No. of times I have missed Frequencyclasses this semester (%)Twice 5Thrice 10Four times 10Five times 30Six times 25Seven times 10More than seven times 10

Table 1: Rate of absenteeism

From these figures it became abundantly clearthat the problem of student absenteeism was acritical issue at the universities in which the studywas conducted. This, in some way could be amajor reason why student general performanceand throughput rate is very low.

Non-attendance Due to Part-time Jobs orOther Work-related Commitments

When asked whether they have part-time jobsthat they perform concurrently with their studies,sixty-five percent of the respondents gave res-ponses that were in the affirmative. They wenton to indicate that attendance to lectures wassometimes affected as they had to fulfil their work-related obligations. The following remarks fromthree students were typical: I have to strike anice balance between attending lectures andattending to my place of work. This is importantto me because if I do not report to my work placewhen required I will be fired and my educationwill suffer. Some of us come from poorbackgrounds and so our families are not able toprovide us with all our needs. Looking for a part-time job becomes the only alternative if you wantto complete your studies. As a foreign student

Total no. of hours that FrequencyI work per week (%)Up to 4 hours 55 to 8 hours 209 to 12 hours 1013 to 16 hours 2017 to 20 hours 1021 to 24 hours 20More than 24 hours 15

Table 2: Time spent at work

The results indicate that more than 35% ofthe respondents miss more than 20 notional hoursper week due to work commitments. When askedto rank order the most pressing factors/needs thatpredispose them to seek for part-time employ-ment instead of applying themselves fully to theirstudies, students identified the following as cru-cial imperatives: (a) tuition fees (b) residence/ rent-ing fees (c) general upkeep (d) transport to uni-versity. From these findings, it turned out thatseveral students experienced absenteeism thathas a socio-economic character. It is, therefore,undisputable that a robust relationship existsbetween student attendance for lectures and /orlearning programmes and their socio-economicstatus.

This study established that most studentswho reported experiencing absenteeism of thischaracter include the following: Foreign students;male students; students from poor family back-grounds; students from single parent families;self- sponsoring students. These findings do notonly enhance our understanding of studentattendance patterns but they also enhance ourinsight into issues that affect student pass ratesand general throughput rates. Indeed, several stu-dies have established that a strong correlation

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exists between student attendance to lecturesand/or learning sessions and general pass rateand /or throughput rates (Steyn and Niekerk2002). As demonstrated by Williams (2000), stu-dent absenteeism is one of the strongest indica-tors of students who are at risk of dropping outof school.

Non-attendance so as to Catch-up on orCompleting Work to do with Studies

It emerged that many students do not attendcore learning sessions at university due to otherpressing study related activities that they will bedoing. In this aspect, a total of sixty-seven percentof the respondents reported having absentedthemselves from lectures several times becausethey were busy trying to catch- up or completingwork that has to do with their studies. Severalactivities were mentioned as having a bearingon students non-attendance for lectures, chiefamong them being the need to work on assig-nments, completing assigned projects, resear-ching in the library, preparing for presentationsand studying for pending tests.

An insightful revelation in this regard wasthe finding that non-attendance to scheduleduniversity classes or activities by students hadtwo dimensions. First, there was a group ofstudents who do not attend sessions by simplystaying at home doing other study relatedactivities or for any other reasons best known tothemselves. Secondly, some students came touniversity but they did not attend the scheduledlearning activities/programmes when required todo so. These students indicated that during thistime, they will identify a quiet place such as alibrary, a free lecture theatre or any other quietplace where they can try to update their work onwhich they are lagging behind.

These findings are insightful as they revealstudents inherent problems in managing theirstudy activities or programmes. Much as theymay like to attend their lectures or related learningsessions, they end up not able to do so due tocompeting educational issues that demandattention. From these findings, it is clear that whenstudents do not attend a scheduled session,caution should be exercised not to simply mis-construe this as a mere signal of lack of motivationor some form of deviant behaviour on the part ofthe students. Instead, this may be a signal thatthe student support systems that are currently in

place in universities are inadequate and /orineffective. These support systems may be failingto equip and capacitate the students with therequired skills with which to approach and copewith their studies.

Non-attendance Due to LecturersWhom I Dislike

Students were asked to indicate whether non-attendance in lectures or other universityactivities had anything to do with the lecturerswho teach them. On this issue fifty-eight percentof the participant students reported that their non-attendance to lectures was precipitated by theirdislike of lecturers who teach certain courses/subjects. On the other hand, forty-two percent ofthe respondents thought otherwise. The formergroup of students cited factors ranging from poorteaching styles by lecturers, boring lectures, lec-tures being too long, lecturers showing favou-ritism to certain students as critical lecturer chara-cteristics that predispose them towards absen-teeism or non-attendance.

The following sentiments from a law studentwere typical Methods used by lecturers such asmultiple choice in LLB course do not enhanceevaluation and analysis skills which is the basisof this course but now it seems as if its analternative to effective methods known toeveryone reasonable in the faculty. A studentstudying accounting raised the following remarks:Some lecturers have swinging moods. Someselect students to talk to. They seem not involvedand interested with lecturing. Contributing tothe debate on lecturer-induced absenteeism, oneparticipant student responded as follows:Teaching techniques, if poor, may contributeto absenteeism. Some lecturers come late andsome overlap their lectures with time for otherlectures. If the lecture is too long it becomesboring. Lectures must be short and precisebecause we end up sleeping and it will be of nouse to come and sleep every now and again.Short and precise lectures are number one.Contributing to the same issue, a student fromthe faculty of social science expressed his viewsas follows:

The lectures are not appetising. Its not some-thing that you would wish for. There is no dif-ference going to college and attend or not. Iprefer studying at home than going for lectures.Romanticising is another factor. The social

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science faculty needs intervention otherwise thevarsity reputation is at risk. Lecturers need tobe shifted and new ones coming in. Closesupervision for lecturers is required. They aretoo relaxed and have too much freedom of whichmost of them are not good performers.

These sentiments are critical as they helpreveal that a number of lecturer-related charac-teristics or attributes can be a factor in the problemof non-attendance for lectures by students. Inother words, these lecturers attribute act as pushout factors that militate against student atten-dance to classes. These findings are consistentwith findings made by Williams (1999) and Weller(1996) in respect of education in Britain. Theirstudies revealed that demeaning teacher attitudesoften lead to school avoidance by students.

Non-attendance Due to UninterestingCourses/Subjects

On whether there were any courses or partsthereof that students dislike so much that theycould choose not to attend classes, fifty-eightpercent of the students gave responses that werein the affirmative. On the other hand, forty-twopercent of these did not consider this aspect animportant one in this regard. Thus, manystudents expressed dissatisfaction over the waylectures are delivered in class. The running threadin most student responses on this aspect wasthat lectures were boring. From these responses,one could infer with reasonable justification thatmost lectures presented to students fail togenerate the students learning interest or moti-vation in general. Student motivation has beencited by several research studies as being closelycorrelated not only to student attendance but alsoto general student achievement and throughputrates.

Missing Classes so as to be withFriends and Peers

From the findings it emerged that peerinfluence has a significant bearing on studentattendance to lectures. Close to forty percent ofthe respondents admitted having missed classesin the past in order to be in the company of friends.Peer influence has been cited by several resear-chers among them Williams (1999), as an imp-ortant factor that contributes to various forms ofanti-school behaviour such as absenteeism,

truancy, and dropping out. This is not surprisinggiven the fact that over eighty percent of thestudents who participated in this study wereyoung people whose average age ranged from 20to 21. This is the age group that seems to be mostvulnerable to the problem of peer influence. Thepeer group has also been cited by Sharma (2005)as an important agent which has a strong bearingon the students will and ability to perform well.Although data was mainly focusing on the effectof peer group on achievement, this has importantimplications for this study because the studentslevel of achievement can predispose students intoabsenting or even dropping out.

DISCUSSION

The issue of student absenteeism in the SouthAfrican Higher education landscape has becomea complex educational, political and socialproblem that is generating increased interestamong educators, researchers, and policy makers.The problem of absenteeism is becoming theconcern of every member of society since it hasnegative consequences at both the individual andsocial level. For instance, studies carried byBowen (2005) have established that students whoattend classes more regularly seem to be moresuccessful in their studies than those whofrequently absent themselves. In a related study,Baldacchino and Farrugia (2002) examined therelationship between class attendance andperformance in the context of agriculturaleconomics classes and confirmed that studentabsenteeism resulted in lower grades. Marburger(2001) also reported a carefully designed studyof attendance and test performance amonguniversity students. Students were significantlymore likely to answer incorrectly those testquestions covering material taught during dayson which the students were absent.

Contributing to the same debate, Reid (2005)postulates that when students are absent fromschool, there are a wide range of short term edu-cational consequences that they face. First andforemost, students miss out on assignments. Bymissing out on assignments, they are more likelyto underachieve or perform poorly in differentsubjects. This discussion does not only viewabsenteeism narrowly in terms of its obviousnegative impact on student achievement andthroughput rate but also in terms of its socialoutcomes. As Baderin (2005) observes, most

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students who skip classes tend to perform badlythereby severely limiting their chances of eco-nomic and social well-being throughout theiradult lives. Halpen (2007) cites increased crime,poor levels of health, reduced political partici-pation and increased demand for social servicesas some of the likely social consequences of failingto do well in school.

The findings of this research provoke variousissues and implications that could generate keeninterest among all those with a stake in highereducation. Firstly the finding that students skipclasses for a multiplicity of reasons most of whichhave little to do with the students themselves ortheir universities implies that efforts to stamp outthe problem of absenteeism should be directed atall the factors within the wider social, economicand political environment rather than merelyconcentrating at the student per se or at theuniversity. Secondly, the findings that lecturercharacteristics and attributes can accentuate theproblem of non-attendance raises two majorparadoxes that exist in education in general andin higher education in particular. First, lecturersare supposed to be the champions in promotingstudent attendance, retention and throughputrates. This is so not just because it is part of theircall as professionals but also due to the fact thatstudent attendance is a prerequisite for theexistence of the lecturing job. Secondly, therevelation by participant students that they skipscheduled classes because they dislike certainlecturers and certain courses is rather puzzling asthis is least expected in a conducive teaching/learning relationship.

Contrary to popular perception, the findingsof this research have shown that lecturers areproving to be major culprits in the student absen-teeism problem. If lecturers actions or profes-sional behaviour predispose students into ab-senteeism, it can therefore be argued that lecturers,consciously or unconsciously, may be contri-buting to low student pass rates and throughputrates. In support, Fleming (1995) carried out astudy at Lincolin University. In his study, hefound that the major reasons given by studentsfor non-attendance at lectures were poor lecturing(23%), timing of the lecture (23%) and poor qualityof the lecture content (9%). Contributing to thesame issue, Teasley (2004) also assets thatstudents that have poor or conflicting rela-tionships with teachers will avoid school in orderto avoid their teachers.

Gump (2006) regards classrooms as conflictprone situations characterised by teachers andpupils all pursuing different goals and agendas.Conceived in this sense, absentee students canbe regarded as victims of classroom conflict.Bowen (2005) expands on this idea when heasserts that all schools repress and coerce stu-dents, and those students who cannot withstandthe repression and coercion get ejected from theschool system. In a study of American Schooleducation, the same author concluded thatschools are expected to make students do thingsthey might not otherwise choose to do. Literally,this seems to suggest that schools make demandsthat run counter to students natural inclinations.Teasley (2004) alludes to this view by postulatingthat in most classes, students are expected toremain silent unless called upon by the teacher,sit relatively motionless in their sits for extendedperiods and listen to tedious lessons.

In the light of this revelation, it is not onlyenough for lecturers to simply acknowledge theexistence and severity of the absenteeism pro-blem in their classes. Rather, they should try torespond to the problem by exploring creativetechniques to increase class attendance. Admit-tedly, if this ideal is to be achieved, lecturers perse cannot go it alone. Instead, this would call fora conceited effort from all university structuressuch as central administration, teaching andlearning centres, student support units andstudent representative bodies. This view isreinforced by Williams (1999) who remarks thatif survival of students in schools is to be gua-ranteed, then it is not enough simply to ensurethat students attend school without paying moreattention to the quality of education that thestudents get from such schools.

This seems like a call for all those partners inthe provision of higher education to carry outtheir respective roles accordingly. For instance,at the level of government, there may be need toimprove lecturers working conditions so as toboost their motivation with a view that this willhave positive returns in the way they dischargetheir duties. This is important as participantstudents raised the concern that some lecturersseem not to have the zeal to teach. However,working conditions or salaries alone may not beadequate to address the problem of absenteeismwithout some sort of quality control or monitoringsystem in place. Therefore, universities mustensure that their quality assurance systems are

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well functioning so that somehow lecturers aremade accountable for what they are doing.

It emerged from the findings that a reasonablenumber of students evade lectures and/ortutorials so as to concentrate and catch up onother more pressing aspects of their studies. Thisconfirms Flemings (1995) study at LincolinUniversity which found that 40% of the reasonsoffered for non-attendance at lectures involvedthe pressure of other learning tasks. Accordingto Fleming, students choose to miss a class inorder to work on an assignment because theythink they will gain more marks from doing theassignment. This tendency points towards acrisis of time and study management skills thatuniversity students are experiencing. The im-plication that comes to the fore here is that if theproblem of absenteeism is to be kept under check,universities should face the challenge of exploringand implementing effective intervention stra-tegies that equip the students with appropriatestyles of studying and how to manage academicpressure in higher education. This is particularlyimportant given the public outcry that most stu-dents enrolling with universities are ill-preparedfor higher education and its exigencies.

From the findings it emerged that absentee-ism has a socio-economic character that worksadversely against students from lower socio-economic families and backgrounds. Similarly,students from single parents or child headedfamilies are also equally affected. In support,Zhang (2003) found that out of the 137 studentsin the study that were described as truant, 33 ofthe students homes were categorized as poorand 74 of the students homes were categorisedas extremely poor. Zhang, further assets thatmoney becomes a large issue of families inpoverty. Accordingly, there is no money for fees,food and transport to college. This was mainlyattested by the number of students who reportedthat they engage in part-time economic activitiesso as to raise funds to augment the little resourcesthat their families can mobilise for their education.

Kottasz (2005) study found that two-fifths ofstudents in the UK claim that their universityeducation is suffering because they have to workpart-time. Half of the students interviewed in asurvey of 782 third year undergraduates for theNational Institute of Economic and SocialResearch had to work while studying at university.Four-fifths of these said it meant they miss outon lectures and on using library and computer

facilities. Longhurst (1999) on the other handidentified that in a study of Further Educationcollege students, 22% had missed classes at sometime because of work commitment. This scenarioevokes the contentious debate about the degreeto which education in general and highereducation in particular is meritocratic. Closelyrelated to this debate is the issue of whetherhigher education is really accessible to all thosewho need it irrespective of family backgroundand social class. In other words if the studentsright to education in general and higher educationin particular is mediated through ones socialclass, then the view that education is a basichuman right becomes highly unsustainable.

This view finds support from Segal (2008)who postulates that schooling was once thoughtto have an enlightening and equalising mission,but it is now increasingly seen to have inegali-tarian and repressive features. If some studentscan sacrifice their education so as to raise moneyto support their learning, it becomes highly co-ntentious whether the concept of equal oppo-rtunity and equal access in higher education hasany real meaning which is above the level ofrhetoric. At the outset it has to be conceded thatthe South African social environment is char-acterised by chronic deprivation, absolute po-verty and gross inequalities. The critical issuehere is that if student achievements, throughputrates and social outcomes are to be raised to ameaningful level, then the government and otherstakeholders should face the challenge of wagingan assault on poverty through various povertyreduction and alleviation projects. This wouldempower the lower class families and hopefullyreducing absenteeism that is related to socio-economic status. Only then can lower classstudents probably enjoy their full right to highereducation in much the same way as those fromwell to do families. It is hoped that this measurewill not only bring about equity in the provisionof higher education, but will also impact positivelyon student achievement outcomes as well as thegeneral throughput rates.

From the findings, it became clear that studentsupport services need to be intensified so thatstudents are assisted in making sound decisionsthat relate to their studies and life in general. Thisis important given the fact that the majority ofuniversity students are post-matric adolescentsmany of whom are staying away from home forthe first time in their lives. Understandably, some

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of them experience a great deal of crises indecision-making. In the current study, quite asizable number of respondents indicated that themotivation for their absenteeism from lectures wasthe need to be with their friends and peers. Insupport, Reid (2005) assets that truant individualsare influenced by their peers to not attend schooland encourage peers to engage in activitiesoutside of the school with them. This, in someway, points towards the level of maturity that mostuniversity students have. It is therefore crucialthat when students enroll with university, theirlevel of maturity should not be taken for granted.

CONCLUSION

This study has shown that the problem ofabsenteeism is quite prevalent in the SouthAfrican higher education landscape. The problemis precipitated by interplay of a multiplicity offactors which are both internal and external tothe student and or the university. Key among thefactors that give rise to absenteeism are poorteaching strategies by lecturers, unfavourable lea-rning environments, poor socio-economic back-ground, peer influence as well as unconduciveinterpersonal relations between students andlecturers. The problem of student absenteeism isgaining much attention from educators, re-searchers and policy makers as it is not just aneducational problem but also a social and politicalissue with huge social costs. Therefore, this studyadvocates that in order to address the problem inany meaningful way, efforts should be directednot only at the student or university but at thebroader socio-economic and political environ-ments in which universities are located.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The University Teaching and Learning Cen-tres should identify training needs andorganise symposiums, workshops, confe-rences and staff development programmes forlecturers so as to enhance their skills andperformance levels.

Lecturers should try to respond to theproblem of student absenteeism by exploringcreative techniques to increase class atten-dance. Obviously one way of operationalisingthis ideal is through the use of innovativeteaching methods, the use of better equippedclassrooms and a change in attitude.

The implementation of effective and func-tional student orientation and student sup-port programmes could be part of the in-tervention strategies that universities mightneed to consider among others.

Students need regular guidance and coun-selling services as well as career support sothat they may be able to cope with univer-sity life and all that goes with it. It is hopedthat this support may make a difference.

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