**1. Introduction**

"Higher Education Institutions" (HEIs) refers to tertiary educational institutions which provide and confer advanced credentials such as certificates, higher certificates, diplomas, advance diplomas, undergraduate/bachelor degrees, and post graduate

degrees (honours, masters and doctoral degrees) in specific professions and/or disciplines [1]. The practice of equity and liberal access to HEIs is associated with the socialist philosophical ideology of justice and democracy. Mkude, Cooksey, and Levey suggested that equity and liberal access to HEIs contributes to the growth of a progressive society by encouraging social inclusiveness, thereby instilling national camaraderie [2].

South Africa is a nation composed of four primary ethnic groups: Black, Coloured, White, and Indian reflecting great socioeconomic diversity both within and across groups [3]. In 1999, Professor Kadar Asmal attempted to forge a democratic and liberal ethos among South African HEIs by convening a Council on Higher Education (CHE) in order to evaluate, recommend and subsequently transform national educational policies with the goal of promoting greater impartiality and providing improved opportunities for previously disadvantaged ethnic groups, making higher education more accessible to all South Africans. The primary findings of the CHE were that disparities and diversity between the great numbers of South African HEIs were "divisive" with regards to ethnicity, geography/location, finances, and resources; they furthermore shared dissimilar administrative structures which ultimately produced gross inequalities across the board [4]. The CHE guided the process of higher education transformation, aimed at addressing questions of accessibility and inequality [5].

HEIs embraced two fundamental strategies in order to address the concerns of inaccessibility and inequality: firstly, the provision of financial aid to deserving students from low socio-economic communities; secondly, the manipulation of admission and selection policies in an attempt to accommodate students with impoverished socioeconomic backgrounds [6]. This approach is referred to as affirmative action, and has been met with mixed emotions [7]. Modisha reported that affirmative action instituted among South African HEIs was geared at the decolonisation of apartheid policies of inaccessibility and inequality [8]. Affirmative action further sought to create new policies of accessibility and equality, enhancing the educational and subsequent employment prospects of students from socio-economically disadvantaged communities, and thus improving their overall quality of life. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was founded in 1996 by the Department of Higher Education and Training, so as to financially support undergraduate students. The post millennium admission criteria of South African HEIs has been amended, following global trends of affirmative action, receiving mixed reactions from the 19 South African HEIs [9].

Regardless of these attempts to eliminate gatekeeping and create higher education impartiality, the academic success of many students remains poor. Factors influencing academic success include final school year academic performance, successful integration into the university environment, self-efficacy, finances, the language of instruction/teaching, and student organisational skills [10, 11]. The primary objective of this paper is to review the factors which influence the academic success rate of students engaged in a course of study geared at entry into the Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, or Biokinetics professions at a South African HEI. This paper further seeks to recommend potential strategies to improve student academic performance.
