Abstract:
This study was based on the assumption that in Ghana, women who return late to higher
education combine domestic and academic work and, in the process, experience tensions and
difficulties in the face of cultural and academic prejudice. It employed an interpretive qualitative
research approach via narrative interviews with eight mature undergraduate women from different
socio-economic backgrounds in one public university. The intention was to explore their experiences
and use the findings to make suggestions for institutional development and learning. The data was
collected in May 2009 from a sample of first- and final-year women from the Departments of Sociology
and Basic Education in one of the oldest public universities in the southern part of Ghana. The women
students found academic work difficult and made reference to gaps in terms of their knowledge deficit,
unfamiliar courses and teaching methods. Recommendations from the study include the formulation
of an institutional policy on mature women students in particular, and non-traditional students in
higher education generally, and the regular provision of professional development programmes for
higher education practitioners.
