The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina has entered into a partnership agreement with the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
The center has collaborated with the European First-Year Experience Network for many years and has cooperated in research with first-year experience officials at educational institutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and in nations on the Pacific Rim.
The new agreement with the University of Johannesburg will provide essential resources, publications and services that advance learning in the higher education community and provide professional development opportunities to the nation of South Africa, the African continent, and a global network of scholars, while advancing the research agenda of the National Resource Center.
Jennifer Keup, director of the National Resource Center, said that “this affiliation with our South African colleagues is a perfect next step in our international efforts to facilitate students’ learning, development, and success during their transition into and through higher education. We look forward to drawing upon the shared values of our respective organizations — the importance of student transitions, the connection between research and practice, inclusion and collaboration, and lifelong learning — to engage in work that allows higher education to meet its fullest potential as a tool for social justice and as a lever for personal, political, and economic advancement.”
