Varsities too can help students recover from failure – Opinion

By Chiagoziem McDonald Ogunedo

All universities have procedures of identifying students who fail multiple courses in a semester or fail the same course multiple times. These processes would pick up students who fail half of their courses, especially in their first year.

The question is , What happens next? A university would ordinarily develop a plan to support the student to improve on the performance. These may include advice to attend the language and learning skills center, seek support for mental well being or to reduce the study lead if possible. Universities differ in how much practical assistance they give to students to recover from failure and complete their course.

Failure rates differ across courses, due to a combination of factors, including: a higher percentage of international students, assessment policies and teacher-student relationships.

Despite being common, failure is rarely discussed in universities and is often attributed to students share laziness. Many students, despite being in a university, possess slow learning abilities. This affects them in most cases and lecturers either do not seem to notice, or choose to ignore. They believe that once they have gotten the attention of a few, they have concluded their work.

Heavy work burdens outside the walls of university including physical or mental health problems, financial strain are mostly attributed to share in the student’s concentration and subsequently, failure.

Other factors beyond their control are family responsibilities, poor curriculum or assessment design and inflexible university rules. It is pertinent that universities at this age make time to reach out to students at the point of failure, through direct contact; by email or phone – with sensitivity and humanity.

Universities can also encourage students to learn from their mistakes and view them as an opportunity to improve. A lot of the time, setbacks and ‘failure’ can be the catalyst for future success as lessons are learnt.

While students are equipped with the tools and theories necessary to deal with and overcome the challenges of everyday life, they also need encouragement to identify their strengths, characteristics and how they can be best applied to everyday life.

Universities can also build a student-lecturer trust. Professors and lecturers are not just teachers, they are mentors too. For students to see and understand the paths their professors toed to be successful today can be both inspiring and valuable.

Ogunedo Chiagoziem McDonald is a 100level Mass Communication of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.