This data collection includes the qualitative interview and focus group data for the senior leaders and academic staff interviewed at three universities in South Africa as part of phase 2 of a research study of student transitions for rural areas to higher education in South Africa. Interviews and focus groups were conducted to support an in-depth participatory research process (phase 1) involving 71 student co-researchers who collected multimodal narratives on their own lives and transition experiences over the course of one year. The two data collection handbooks prepared for the research project (phase 1 with. student co-researchers, phase 2 - senior leaders and academics) are also included and a working paper on the methodology of the research. The research findings demonstrated the numerous challenges for students from rural contexts in accessing university, including linguistic, cultural and technological barriers and divides. The research also highlighted the deeply rooted historical effects of colonialism and apartheid, which continue to shape the educational pathways of young people in rural areas in South Africa, through severe educational and infrastructural constraints and enforced mobilities. However, what we sought to make more visible, were the rich and diverse lives of students from rural areas, including their extensive cultural and local knowledge, their roles and responsibilities within communities, the importance of familial and community support. These funds of knowledge were critical to successful transitions to higher education. Yet these were often ignored or unrecognised by higher education institutions, making transitions far more difficult. The research further identified how university learning environments and staff within them do not always acknowledge or value the knowledges and skills that students have developed in their rural communities or the distinctiveness of their home languages, prior educational experiences and trajectories. This leads to difficulties in participating in teaching and learning and in the social fabric of university. Whilst many of the challenges of widening access were acknowledged in interviews with senior and academic staff, there continue to be powerful structural and cultural constraints and resistance that frustrate opportunities to decolonise curricula and teaching practices. In our study, students from rural contexts wanted to be recognised as key contributors to knowledge production and to learning and teaching activities that are relevant for all students. These experiences have implications for university policies on education and student wellbeing in South Africa, other Southern African contexts, UK and globally.The research project (also known as SARiHE- Southern African Rurality in Higher education) sought to address the knowledge gap that exists regarding the transition from rural school and home contexts to university learning in Southern Africa. The study traced the implications of this transition in order to develop inclusive teaching and learning practices and support mechanisms in universities, as well as developing awareness in an international audience of the influence of rural life on higher education, and how this influence plays out in Southern Africa as a specific region. The research has made significant contributions to debates on widening participation, equity, social justice and post-colonial curricula in higher education across Southern Africa and more widely across the Global South. The study shed light on the many misconceptions and stereotypes about rural existence, but in addition, explored the extent to which there are real constraints as well as opportunities provided by living in rural areas. We also investigated how the students strategise to manage the constraints they have experienced and strengths they possess. In order to ensure context-sensitivity and sustainability, a participatory research approach was adopted. This involved the training of a select group of students to act as co-researchers and partners in the research. They documented their own experiences as researchers, using personal documentaries created using iPads, engaging in dialogue with lecturers and administrators at key moments in the project. Three research strategies were key to the project: the first, an advanced literature review and a scrutiny of publically available documentation on macro-trends and socio-economic indicators on rurality. The second, the training of 71 second-year students in the humanities and the science and technology fields to become educational researchers. The students documented their prior learning in rural areas and their experience as university students, as well as how they negotiated the transition, and what social and technological resources they drew upon. This was accompanied by interviews with senior leaders and academics in order to obtain a varied perspective on this transition. This data collection took place at three diverse universities, which represent a range of South African higher education institutions, all with students from rural backgrounds. Our third strategy involved sharing the interim findings and the research methods with academics and academic developers from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The purpose was to engage in dialogue on the research methodology, the interim implications for developing post-colonial learning and teaching, and to ascertain to what extent these findings are common to the Southern African region. Academic developers and academics from these countries belong to an academic development network, the Southern African Universities Learning and Teaching (SAULT) forum. Our team worked in partnership with a broader research team in South Africa and with the SAULT forum, including workshops to share and build support for conducting similar research in the region and for academic writing. The mainly qualitative data were analysed using thematic and narrative analysis. The themes informing the analysis were broadly drawn from socio-cultural theories of teaching and learning, with an emphasis on practices. This included attention to the contexts in which students learn, the material conditions as well as cultural practices, the interrelationships amongst individuals and groups, and the formation of student identities. The partnership was built on a strong and practised collaboration between academics at the universities of Johannesburg, Rhodes, Fort Hare, Bristol and Brighton, with expertise in teaching and learning in higher education, social inclusion, digital technologies and participatory research methods.

Three universities (named here as University or Uni 1, 2 and 3) were chosen as a balance of urban, rural locations and different types of university: research intensive, comprehensive, urban, rural and small town, formally majority White and formally majority Black institutions in the context of South Africa. Sampling was conducted with students participants based on their rural backgrounds and a balance between those studying STEM and Humanities subjects ( which includes social sciences in South Africa). Leaders were chosen to include a range of roles including Deputy Vice Chancellors, Students Counselling Leaders, Deans of Faculty. Academics were drawn from STEM and Humanities disciplinary areas, some with further responsibilities. Data deposited consists of transcripts of audio recorded interviews which were conducted with senior leaders in the three universities and audio recorded focus groups which were conducted at two universities with academic staff and in one university further interviews with academic staff were conducted. Two data collection handbooks are also included - one for the student data collection phase (data not included) and the second for the phase covering staff data collection. A methodological working paper which sets out the methodology used in the study is also included .