Abstract
The Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg, like many other
universities worldwide, has a strong focus on first-year experience programmes to promote
student academic and social enculturation.
Aim: In this article, we report on students’ views of the role of an education excursion as
cohesive device. We were particularly interested in how students establish social relationships
with peers, and the values they attribute to these connections over time for their incorporation
into university.
Setting: The education excursion consists of a specially designed curriculum in the two day
programme, off campus, as an extension of the initial first year seminar.
Methods: Using methods associated with longitudinal studies, we collected data via a
biographical survey and questionnaire for first years, followed by dyadic interviews with a
purposive sample of students 30 months later. Qualitative content analysis led to several
findings...