The attitude and effects of students towards cultural diversity : a case of University of Limpopo

Abstract

The paper investigates the attitude and effects of students towards cultural diversity in the University of Limpopo, Turfloop Campus. During the apartheid regime, blacks were discriminated against by white people and they were segregated in relation to education. The 1994 elections in South Africa implied transformation that expected to see the South Africans, including all students in all universities trying to make democracy work. This includes all the university employees making a way for non-racial institution where students from different culture to be expected to work together. To achieve these objectives, the researcher utilized a face to face interview as a method of collecting data because it allows the respondents to give much information. The results show that cultural diversity has an effect on the performance of the students in the university. Furthermore, the paper reveals that cultural diversity is also influenced by religion, language, disabilities, albinism and homosexuality. The paper concludes that students in the University of Limpopo discriminate other people's culture to due cultural differences in respect of race, gender and language. The researcher recommends that the university policies such as familiarization of different culture should be implemented and adhered to in the university. Other policies must be followed like those amended in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Section 16), which states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression which include academic freedom and freedom of scientific research and Section 15 which states that everyone has a right to freedom of religion, belief and opinion.