Student views on transition to higher education: Challenges, impacts and suggestions

Abstract

This paper examines students'perspectives on the main transitional challengesexperienced when commencing higher education. It explores which students are most affected by the transition and also provides a summary of student recommendations to help improve the transition. Using a case study of Ireland, the results indicate that students find time management the most significant transitional challenge, followed by written assessments, critical thinking and conducting independent research. Older students are found to be more likely to struggle with the transition. The findings indicate that prior academic success is not correlated with a student's experience of the transition. The paper also analyses almost 1,100 suggestions from students on how to ease the transition to higher education. These suggestions are discussed in detail and are found to fall under four main headings: higher education institute supports; second level academic support; managing expectations and engagement; and general skills preparation at second level.