An exploratory study on students' safety at the Universities of Limpopo and Venda

Abstract

Campus safety is an important part of a student’s overall university experience. However, safety and security are an issue that institutions of higher learning have to deal with and address within their campuses. The focus of this study was to explore students’ safety at the Universities of Limpopo (UL) and Venda (UNIVEN). This study adopted an exploratory triangulation approach. A triangulation design was implemented to allow the researcher the opportunity to collect qualitative and quantitative data and thereafter, integrate the results in the interpretation stage. For triangulation purposes, data was collected using interviews and a self-administered questionnaire. For the qualitative phase of the research (phase I), twenty face to face interviews were conducted and for the quantitative phase (phase II), eight hundred and nineteen respondents responded to the questionnaire. This study employed Routine Activities Theory (RAT) to discuss the findings. Some of the findings were that the majority of female students who reside off-campus were fearful of being victimised. More female students than males were more concerned of sexual harassment and rape. These criminal incidents were statistically significant. The study further reveals that a lack of sufficient lighting, alcohol and illicit drugs, campus camera surveillance, crime reporting, and the visibility of emergency phones are some of the contributing factors associated with students victimisations. There are no visible police patrolling around the campuses of UL and UNIVEN. The majority of the students do not report their victimisation to the police or campus authorities. Furthermore, this study reveals that there is no relationship between gender and the perception of safety. However, age and level of study have a relationship to the perception of safety and were statistically significant. Based on these findings, crime awareness campaigns, visibility of police patrolling around the campus, and the police should work closely with the University authority.