This paper is discussion of student engagement of selected students at a South African university. Based on semi- structured interviews and focus group discussions with ten second year students attached to a peer mentoring programme, the paper will analyse how these first generation students engage in their educational socialization and learning at South African university. Two points of reference inform the conceptual focus of the paper: one is the context of widening access to universities to formerly excluded communities in the South African context. Universities embarked on a rapid increase in providing access to black students .The second is the ubiquitous under-preparedness of university's institutional contexts in providing an intellectually engaging reception and induction platform for these 'newer' students (Makgoba, 1997, Seepe, 2000). Consequently, students experience difficulty with the education socialization contexts of their university, which has implications for the nature of their educational experiences and success. Studies by Bozalek (2009) and Van Schalkwyk (2009) show that engagement, active participation and shared learning are factors that enhance such educational socialization and learning at University. Strydom (2009) identifies academic preparation and motivation as essential for academic success. Kuh (2009) highlights that what students do are important and that the time and effort students spend on study activities have consequences for their educational success. My paper expands on this literature by considering student engagement from the perspective of students' identity and agency. I will particularly focus on the capacity, and ability to engage in their higher education socialization and learning. Drawing on Appadurai's notion 'capacity to aspire', I will discuss how student mentors go about mapping and navigating their way through their aspirant constructions in pursuit of their educational objectives. I will argue that how they access and establish their 'navigational capital' (Yosso 2008) across the myriad spaces of their life and at the institutional site of the university is key in understanding the nature of their student engagement and their capacity to engage in their education. I will emphasize the forms of capital that these students mobilise to establish their university engagements. I will show how these students' aspirational and navigational capacities are influenced by their capacity to engage, who they are and where they come from. The paper suggests that recognising research on student engagement which focuses on their capacity to engage the life world of their university contexts will expand debates on student engagement in higher education.
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