**5. Conclusion**

*Education Systems Around the World*

ter educational encounters in the classroom.

make for better student performance.

forms, the embodied, the objectified and the institutionalised states, of which the objectified and the institutionalised indicate the possession of cultural artefacts and educational credentials. The embodied state is critical to an individual because it involves an ability to decipher the "cultural codes" which are composed of material cultural objects, for example, writings, paintings and monuments. Preparedness for educational encountered for both the student and the institution is hampered by capital. The kind of capital required for the students to construct knowledge is missing, and the cultural codes around the university which makes for its culture and architecture also present a challenge in itself for students and the drive for bet-

Bourdieu [18] expounds on the interconnectedness of culture, architecture and capital in the educational experience by arguing that learning is sponsored by "systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures, that is as principles of generation and structuring of practices and representations which can be objectively 'regulated' and 'regular' without in any way being the product of obedience to rules, objectively adapted to their goals without presupposing a conscious aiming at ends or an express mastery of the operations necessary to attain them and, being all this, collectively orchestrated without being the product of the orchestrating action of a conductor"(p. 72). This means that there are a variety of forces at play influencing educational encounters and institutions and the powers that must take action and responsibility to ensure that these forces are dealt with. The multifaceted nature of the forces at play determine preparedness and how successful or unsuccessful educational encounters are for the students attending the university. The more capital and cognitive skills the student possesses, the more they are predisposed to succeed. Within the context of the findings, it is clear that both the educational architecture and institutional culture of the higher education institutions in South Africa are ill-prepared for educational encounters with students. The right kind of architecture and culture would improve the quality of educational encounters and

Manik [5] argues that both students and universities are often underprepared for higher education, and universities often need to do more to assist underprepared students as well as transform themselves to become better-prepared institutions so as to foster better educational encounters. Lewin and Mayoyo [19] add to this by arguing there are several factors influencing access and success at university, and these are complex and multidimensional. To them, student preparedness is influenced by schooling background, socio-economic status, race and gender and the social context of learning, student and staff ratio, pedagogy, language and literacy. With the participants articulating these as issues influencing or affecting their educational experience, institutions need to take these factors into consideration if throughput rates must increase, and the educational architecture and the institutional culture must be revisited to pave way for new and better facilities which would ensure that the right kind of educational encounters are garnered. Heymann and Carolissen [20] confirm this when they argue that students must be understood as having "real challenges" and in need of institutional support, but they caution that a patronising attitude should be avoided in classifying students according to categories which will lead to labelling: being "pathologised as problematic" for their specific needs. Sosibo and Katiya [21] further buttress this when they argue that institutions need to provide specialised support especially the acquisition of skills and recognise that students may be struggling with critical skills in English such as speaking, reading and writing. This means that universities need to support students to develop cognitive skills as a way of giving them a wide variety of tools with which to navigate their way in the higher education sector. They continue that

**70**

Student and institutional preparedness for educational encounters is a product of a variety of issues. How these issues are addressed will determine whether or not a student's educational experience improves. From the findings, it is clear that social and cultural capitals, cognitive skills, educational architecture and institutional culture are amongst some of the drivers of educational encounters for students in the classroom. The effects of such encounters are heavily dependent on the levels of preparedness and the drivers that determine such a level. Institutions must therefore recognise the fact that not only are students underprepared but universities themselves are becoming increasingly underprepared as access increases and throughput rates are low. With this in mind, this chapter makes four key recommendations for better educational encounters in the classroom. Firstly, universities need to recognise their capacity and work to improve such capacity in the wake of massification as a way of improving throughput rates especially because they would continuously attract students of similar background or with similar challenges. Secondly, educational encounters are a direct product of work between both the university and students, and specialised support should be tailored and provided to students who need them as a way of empowering them for an improved educational experience. Thirdly, students must strive to improve themselves and garner more capital as they navigate their way through the higher education landscape, for capital is the very currency of educational encounters, and such encounters determine whether or not students succeed and when students succeed. Finally, highereducation stakeholders need to theorise more deeply the ability of higher education institutions to accommodate a certain number of students as well as the ability of certain students to navigate their way through the higher education landscape as a mechanism to ensure that both the institution and the students coming to such institutions are ready for educational encounters in the classroom. This kind of educational encounters is more likely to produce meaningful transformation in both the student and the institution as well as improve throughput rates and guarantee public returns for South Africa's investment in higher education.

*Education Systems Around the World*
