Beyond access: rural students’ experiences of their transition and participation in South African higher education

Despite South Africa’s post-apartheid commitment to educational transformation, rural students continue to face significant challenges in accessing and participating in higher education. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s conceptualisation of participatory parity and its three dimensions; economic redistribution, cultural recognition, and political representation, this qualitative study examines how rural students experience and negotiate their transition to and participation at one South African university. Through in-depth interviews with 18 rural students, this research uncovers how geographic isolation creates informational barriers and systemic misrepresentation, cultural differences lead to experiences of misrecognition and social exclusion, and economic maldistribution manifests in both material constraints and class-based assumptions. The findings reveal how these dimensions intersect to create complex challenges: limited access to information constrains educational choices, cultural alienation affects classroom participation and social integration, and financial precarity influences both academic performance and social belonging. This study advances theoretical understanding of social justice in higher education by demonstrating how Fraser’s framework illuminates the interconnected nature of rural students’ challenges, while providing evidence-based recommendations for achieving genuine participatory parity in South Africa’s higher education system.