Recent developments in university teaching and learning have highlighted that first year students experience a bumpy road in their academic journey. During individual consultations with students in different Faculties at Mafikeng campus for a period of one year, it became clear that students experience various learning problems especially in the first year of study. It emerges that the huge differences between school and university teaching and learning can be overwhelming, intimidating and sometimes discouraging to a point that their academic performance is impacted if the transition is not well nurtured by university personnel. This paper examines the learning problems found to be characteristic of first year students at the North West University, Mafikeng campus. Striking a balance between academic and social life, poor study skills, library skills, computer skills, transition from high school to university teaching methods, poor examination preparation skills, poor writing skills and lack of time management, among others, are just a few of the issues that challenge the academic success of students.
This paper proceeds to analyse and report on the Faculties and modules in which most students encounter problems based on the number of students that consulted at the Academic Development Centre (ADC) for academic support. A mixed methods approach was used to collect data from 70 first year students who consulted at the ADC. Therefore, the emerging results show that the problems are multidimensional and cut across academic and social factors that impact on the teaching and learning experiences. Although the problems are common to all students, we argue that first year students are the most affected.