Building bridges: Understanding student transition to university

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  2. Emeritus Professor Ann Briggs
  3. Jill Clark
  4. Ian Hall
Author(s)Briggs ARJ, Clark J, Hall I
Publication type Article
JournalQuality in Higher Education
Year2012
Volume18
Issue1
Pages1-19
ISSN (print)1353-8322
ISSN (electronic)1470-1081
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This paper explores challenges in ensuring effective student transition from school or college to university. It considers the significant social displacement involved in students’ creation of new learner identities. It examines the complex liaison needed for students to progress to appropriate degree courses, settle in to university life and succeed as higher education learners. Secondary data are drawn from analysis and synthesis of international literature on transition to higher education and the formation of learner identity, to identify key concepts. Primary data are taken from two studies of student transition in North-East England using student and staff surveys, student focus groups, staff interviews, and staff/student conferences which discussed selected project data sets. The analyses of secondary and primary data are used to model the process of transition and the formation of learner identity. The modelling process identifies organizational influences from school, college and university which contribute positively to learner growth. These are: personal contact, multiple opportunities, clarity of structure, apposite information, accessibility of people and curriculum, purposeful liaison, and the awareness of the individual within the process. Research into the process of student transition to university is mainly small-scale and the field is under-conceptualised. This paper synthesizes issues from a number of studies, including longitudinal and meta-studies where available, to identify key concepts and issues. These issues are then modelled in relation to current empirical data. Through this approach, the paper seeks to enhance organisational learning about student transition and provide conceptual thinking for the field.
PublisherRoutledge
URLhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2011.614468
DOI10.1080/13538322.2011.614468
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