This study examined how academic staff responded to a cross-institutional change initiative to integrate immersive scheduling into the first-year undergraduate curriculum. Immersive scheduling, also referred to as block or compressed delivery, sought to create a supportive first-year experience, to ease students' transition to university. Adopting…

The development of a student identity as it relates to the transition of commencing students to higher education has long been identified in the literature as essential to success. As importantly, the existence of a sense of belonging has been considered key to transition and success and the formation of a student identity. Less prominent in the…

March 2020 changed the world of learning. Ever since, students have been relying on remote lecturers, virtual fellow students, and electronic learning material. For many, this greatly differs from how they used to learn before and even though technology is incremental to students' everyday life, many are not familiar with using technology for…

Foundation Years (FY) have proliferated within UK Higher Education in recent years, and their benefits and successes have been well documented (e.g. the enhancement of opportunities for underrepresented students, second-chance education, skills and confidence enhancement, and a pipeline into STEM. However, when managed centrally, their…

A student's transition into higher education or a new learning environment can set the foundation for the remainder of their study, both in perception and academic ability. Mentoring is a transition intervention strategy and most types of these interventions are student peer to peer. However, there is a growing interest in academic involvement in…

Between 2020-22 COVID-19 blurred the line between academic and digital writing as more students and educators used digital platforms to write, share, and collaborate on academic work. Today, students can video-conference, engage in digital annotating, communicate via chats with different audiences, and write more audience-oriented emails--some of…

This article presents a typology of student mindset on commencing their studies at university. Using the results of a sample of over 400 first-year humanities students enrolled in a generalist degree at a mid-tier metropolitan university, we performed a cluster analysis informed by self-reported student motivation, preparedness and perceived…

First-year learning communities (FLCs) are known to improve student integration during the first year at university. The FLC classroom social climate and its potential role in contributing to this positive effect of FLCs have not been studied. The current study wants to elucidate students' perceptions of the social climate within the Utrecht…

Successful transition for students commencing university is a focus of increasing institutional interest and resourcing to optimise student success and retention. Investigation of student expectations of university commencement and their lived experience provides an opportunity for identification of a potential mismatch which has received less…

More diversity is now shown in students gaining admission into universities, many who are ill-equipped for first-year studies and assessment writing. This can result in a failing grade for some, which can impact their success and progression. This study contributes to the student success literature by reporting on the six-step one-on-one targeted…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to the teaching and learning arena and posed challenges to efforts to support student performance. The study aims to identify challenges faced during online tutoring and ways to continue to support the tutoring function to teach and disseminate knowledge to students during lockdown. The study was conducted…

Research at the University of New South Wales with Defence Force Academy students found timemanagement skills significantly improve the academic results of male students but not female students when controlling for the usual effect of prior academic ability. While much previous research has revealed a positive link between time management and…

A 'quantum leap' (Kift, 2015) in our understanding of the transition to university studies has brought about a reimagining of the role of transition programs from attempting to remediate deficiencies in 'underprepared' students, to instead using engagement with the curriculum to instil success-oriented behaviours and attitudes in them. In…

Both attitude and previous experiences play a large role in shaping a student's approach to and achievement in a given subject. Similarly, students' enjoyment of their learning experiences is an important factor in determining their retention in their course of choice. Here, we explore the attitudes toward the study of chemistry amongst a cohort…

COVID-19 has affected university students' learning experiences on a great scale. The aim of this study was to understand the enablers and barriers to the effectiveness of online learning in a university course during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a qualitative case study approach. Participants were 44 first-year university students enrolled in a…