Exploration of the Organisational Conditions that Influence the Utilization of Student Support Services in South African Nursing Colleges

The recent migration of public nursing colleges from the Department of Health to the higher education sector in South Africa has compelled nursing institutions to ensure that their programs meet the Council of Higher Education requirements. One of these requirements is comprehensive student support services in line with the prerogative to widen access and success in higher education. Public Nursing Colleges have reported having systems to provide academic and non-academic support to their students. However, there is limited empirical research on lecturers' and students' perspectives on conditions that influence the utilization of available student support services in nursing colleges. Hence, this research explores organisational conditions that influence the utilization of student support services from the perspectives of lecturers and students at three selected campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The research methodology is qualitative, in which a purposive sampling of 21 participants involved individual interviews. The interview of lecturers was due to their expected role in identifying and implementing some of the student support services. The students were involved in the study because they are the ones who benefit from the existence of such services and should therefore be in a better position to report on organisational conditions that enable utilization. Data analysis was thematic as guided by the academic and non-academic areas of student support services expected of nursing colleges. There was high agreement on the availability of systems to provide academic and non-academic student support services. However, there were limited coordinated, standardized, and structured efforts to implement them at different colleges. More so, lecturers reported a shortage of critical resources. The findings suggest improving conditions to utilize student support services effectively. It should help ensure that student support activities are well-coordinated, comprehensive, and aligned with policy.