Abstract
The changes and transformation in South African higher education and the Mathematics FET curriculum have challenged first year lecturers to review curricular content. The review also comprises a reflection on teaching strategies, use of technology and interventions to support student learning and academic progress. The provision of grants to provide additional resources and interventions has provided opportunities to widen access and deliver tailor-made content in various fields of studies. The number of enrolments in the first year mathematics modules has increased in the past five years but the quality of foundational knowledge and skills has been a concern for all lecturers. Basic numeric skills and critical thinking ability have been identified as inefficient preparation for successful study in first year science modules and need to be addressed at entry level. The University of Johannesburg has designed a semester module in mathematics as a bridging component before students in the four year degree commence, with three semesters to complete the first year curriculum. This investigation compared the success of students in the two streams (three year programme in one module and four year programme in three modules) for the first semester Mathematics and their progress in the last first year modules when students from both streams share the same classes. Appropriate inferential statistics were employed in the comparison of the 2011 – 2013 cohorts. It will be shown that the interventions implemented in the four year degree can be considered as effective in developing the students’ academic competency in mathematics relative to mainstream students in Science and Engineering.