Emma Arogundade, Adam Cooper, Candice Groenewald, Ernest Nene Khalema, Alude Mahali, Relebohile Moletsane, Sharlene Swartz
• The support and pressure of family members, who tried to influence choices, despite not having any experience of university life, and so left young people to flounder, but who, in some cases, were extremely supportive financially and emotionally; • Accounts of feeling excluded by language, racism and sexism; being made to feel inferior and unwelcome because of the institutional culture, not “knowing the system” and being afraid to ask for help;
• Physical insecurity, especially among female students—about working late on campus and then having to take public transport home in the dark, hitching rides to and from university and not having a safe place to sleep; • Some students who sailed straight through university and are now completing honours degrees or internships, or thriving in new jobs.
Our study’s findings, however, advance the knowledge about gendered experiences of South African universities by examining how sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity influence students in university and beyond.