课外活动对于大学生的个人发展起着重要的作用，课外活动被认为是那些在正常上课时间结束后发生的活动。本研究探讨了大学生参加校园课外活动的经验。开普敦大学的大多数学生因认为从事课外活动会影响他们的学业成绩而不积极参与课外活动。为了确定大学生参与课外活动的经验, 本研究采用了采访和问卷调查管理的解释性混合方法设计考察大学生参与校内的课外活动。在文献复习中，本研究采用了菲恩(1989) 提出的参与认同模型。采用了有目的和简单的随机抽样方法, 由组成100名大学生的110 名受访者，另外，大学一年级，二年级和三年级各有10 名学生被选为采访及深入研究的对象。研究表明，大学生参与课外活动的经验的好处包括社会化、时间管理、自尊心高、学校结合、压力释放、自信心水平提高，个人成长和发展，时间管理使大学生更加活跃并减少懒惰和旷课行为。同样，时间的消耗、学术表现不佳、沟通的减少、金钱的消耗、疲倦、沮丧是一些与大学生参与课外活动有关的缺点。然而, 这项研究的结果将使教育方面的利益攸关者对新出现的关于课外活动的问题和对教育部制定政策的影响有了全新的见解。

Extracurricular activities play a significant role in the personal development of students. Extracurricular activities are considered as those activities that happen after the normal class hours are over. The study investigated the experiences of students’ participation in extracurricular activities on campus. Majority of students in the University of Cape Coast are not actively involved in extracurricular activities with the notion that engaging in extracurricular activities would affect their academic performance. To ascertain the experiences of students’ engagement in extracurricular activities, this study adopted the explanatory mixed method design with interview and questionnaire administration to examine the experiences of students’ participation in extracurricular activities on campus. In reviewing the literature, the study adopted the participation-identification model propounded by Finn (1989). Using the purposive and simple random sampling techniques, 110 respondents constituting 100 students and 10 first, second and third year students were selected for an interview and in-depth study. The study found that the experiences associated with students’ engagement in extracurricular activities are as a result of socialization, time management, high self-esteem, school bonding, releases stress, improved confidence level, personal growth and development, time management, makes students’ active, reduced laziness and reduced absenteeism. Again, time consuming, poor academic performance, less communication, money consuming, tiredness, frustration, were some of the disadvantages associated with students’ engagement in extracurricular activities. However, the findings of this study will give stakeholders in education new insights into emerging issues on extracurricular activities and influence the Ministry of Education on policy formulation.