How to support students’ adjustment to university?

As I discussed in my previous post, transition is a crucial period in every student’s life and it is very important that students receive appropriate support during this period. There are a number of ways to facilitate students’ adjustment to post-secondary education, including support from parents, schools and universities. Examining these support structures will help to understand the ways for improving the transition experiences of Kazakhstani students.

One of the important aspects of student support during the transition period is the close cooperation between schools and universities. If such cooperation is well developed, it will contribute to smooth adjustment of students to tertiary culture, because students will be better prepared for university life both academically and socially. More specifically, the curriculum of schools will be better aligned with the curriculum at universities, students’ study skills will be better developed, which facilitates their academic adjustment to university. In other words, both schools and universities should provide services that support academic success of students by promoting their personal development and social integration, teaching students to the ways of modifying their past strategies to developing new ones (Barefoot, 2000). For instance, organizing first year seminars, discussing course expectations, helping students to balance their social and academic life. Moreover, such cooperation might involve visits not only from university to schools, but visits to university as well. This will influence positively on students’ aspirations as it helps them to “visualize themselves as future university students” (Briggs, Clark, & Hall, 2012, pp. 9-10 & Lairio, Puukari, & Kouvo, 2013, p. 119).

Schools and universities should also recognize the influential role of parents in student’s life. Therefore, additional work needs to be done in educating parents about choices of the university, expectations, and the ways parents can support their kids. It might also help to organize orientation for parents as well.

Well organized induction programs contribute a lot to successful transition of students. Evidence from evaluation of higher education induction suggests that students often are overloaded with a lot of new information upon arrival (Briggs et al., 2012). Therefore, it would be good to spread the induction over the first semester or even the first year to ensure its effectiveness (Briggs et al., 2012). It is true that “induction should be a process rather than a one-off event,” because this way we will be able to ensure that students are supported to “fit in” (as cited in Leese, 2010, p. 242).

Applying the above mentioned support structures to Kazakhstani context, we can see that our country lacks appropriate support for students during the transition period. As we know most student’s choice of major and university is influenced by their parents, relatives, as well as university grants, and the UNT results. In Kazakhstan students at the 11th grade at high schools are busy with preparation for the UNT that they don’t really think about the life at university or even the choice of university or major. The priority not only for them but for school administrators, teachers as well, is to pass the test. This is because of the multifunctionlaity of the UNT as you know. In addition, organization of induction programs, as well as cooperation between secondary schools and universities are not developed in Kazakhstan. As a result, students are not provided with sufficient support during their transition period from school to university.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that there are a number of ways to support students in transition, including cooperation among parents, secondary schools and universities. And there is a need to develop such support structures in Kazakhstan considering the importance of transition period for students’ future success.

Could you please share your opinion on this topic? Do you have any suggestions for developing other support structures for students in transition? Moreover, in analyzing the situation in Kazakhstan I relied on my personal experience. Therefore, I’m interested in your experience of support structures during transition from secondary school to university? What support services were available to you from both sides: your secondary school and university? Could you evaluate their usefulness if any?

References

Barefoot, B. O. (2000). The first-year experience. About Campus, 4(6), 12-18.

Briggs, A. R., Clark, J., & Hall, I. (2012). Building bridges: understanding student transition to university. Quality in Higher Education, 18(1), 3-21. Retrieved from:http://ezproxy.library.nu.edu.kz:2167/doi/pdf/10.1080/13538322.2011.614468

Lairio, M., Puukari, S., & Kouvo, A. (2013). Studying at university as part of student life and identity construction. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 57(2), 115-131. Retrieved from:
http://ezproxy.library.nu.edu.kz:2167/doi/pdf/10.1080/00313831.2011.621973

Leese, M. (2010). Bridging the gap: Supporting student transitions into higher education. Journal of further and Higher Education, 34(2), 239-251. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 03098771003695494