National research on the postgraduate student experience: Case presentation on the first year postgraduate student experience (volume 1 of 3)

Also titled: First year postgraduate student experience "This is volume one of three volumes of case studies to enhance the postgraduate student experience. The theme of this case study is: First year postgraduate student experience The other two case studies in this series are: Volume 2 - Postgraduate student diversity Volume 3 - Career development and employability This case presentation on the first year postgraduate student experience is based on experiences derived from student engagement breakfasts, interviews, and focus groups with 366 people across the stakeholder groups of postgraduate students, educators, and university executives from 26 institutions." - from p.

Personal development planning in the first year

The approach to quality and standards in higher education (HE) in Scotland is enhancement led and learner centred. It was developed through a partnership of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Universities Scotland, the National Union of Students in Scotland (NUS Scotland) and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Scotland. The Higher Education Academy has also joined that partnership. The Enhancement Themes are a key element of a five-part framework, which has been designed to provide an integrated approach to quality assurance and enhancement. The Enhancement Themes support learners and staff at all levels in further improving higher education in Scotland; they draw on developing innovative practice within the UK and internationally The five elements of the framework are: z a comprehensive programme of subject-level reviews undertaken by higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves; guidance is published by the SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) z enhancement-led institutional review (ELIR), run by QAA Scotland (www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/ELIR) z improved forms of public information about quality; guidance is provided by the SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) z a greater voice for students in institutional quality systems, supported by a national development service - student participation in quality scotland (sparqs) (www.sparqs.org.uk) z a national programme of Enhancement Themes aimed at developing and sharing good practice to enhance the student learning experience, facilitated by QAA Scotland (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). The topics for the Enhancement Themes are identified through consultation with the sector and implemented by steering committees whose members are drawn from the sector and the student body. The steering committees have the task of establishing a programme of development activities, which draw on national and international good practice. Publications emerging from each Theme are intended to provide important reference points for HEIs in the ongoing strategic enhancement of their teaching and learning provision. Full details of each Theme, its steering committee, the range of research and development activities as well as the outcomes are published on the Enhancement Themes website (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). To further support the implementation and embedding of a quality enhancement culture within the sector - including taking forward the outcomes of the Enhancement Themes - an overarching committee, the Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC), chaired by Professor Kenneth Miller, Vice-Principal, University of Strathclyde, has the important dual role of supporting the overall approach of the Enhancement Themes, including the five-year rolling plan, as well as institutional enhancement strategies and management of quality. SHEEC, working with the individual topic-based Enhancement Themes' steering committees, will continue to provide a powerful vehicle for progressing the enhancement-led approach to quality and standards in Scottish higher education

An evaluation of initiatives implemented to support undergraduate students’ transition into Higher Education at one post-1992 university

Supporting students in the transition to Higher Education is crucial to improving retention. Set in a post-1992 university, admitting a high proportion of students from a widening participation background, this paper analyses first year undergraduate students’ experience of their transition and, in particular, the initiatives implemented to support them. Through questionnaires and focus groups with students and interviews with course leaders, the study identifies the importance of pre-entry and first year engagement in helping students make proactive decisions, develop realistic expectations and integrate both socially and academically. A number of initiatives were evaluated and these were largely positive with the majority successfully managing the transition. However, student transition and retention is multi-faceted and this paper demonstrates the challenges post-1992 universities face in supporting a diverse student body. Nevertheless, areas of good practice were identified, including opportunities for social integration during induction and the use of course social network sites

From WIL1 to work ready: Evaluating the student-learning continuum, a qualitative study

This paper presents the preliminary findings of an ongoing qualitative study investigating the experiences of students, practitioners, and educators in the placement of students within professional practice and outlines the subsequent implications for professional education. This includes an evaluation of a pedagogical model for work integrated learning (WIL) within the built environment and design disciplines, and its relationship to the student-learning continuum. This research aims to address a gap in current knowledge, which commonly views a student’s ‘transition into’ university and ‘transition out’ into professional practice as independent, static events. This paper argues that, rather than simply moving ‘into’ university and ‘out’ into professional practice, the student instead experiences a threshold transgression continuum. This is where the student and their learning evolves and transforms through the crossing-over between workplace and academia that occurs several times throughout their study. In attempting to better understand what it is for the student to transgress and transform, the role that WIL plays in the transition of student from learner to professional is questioned. Using an inductive approach based on grounded theory, this paper evaluates data extrapolated from a series of qualitative open-ended participant interviews with students, practitioners and academics and is collated and analysed using thematic analysis

Building pathways to academic success: a practice report

Students attending university for the first time come with a range of expectations, experiences and skills. For many these prior experiences are less than optimal for achieving academic success. This paper evaluates the academic outcomes across three cohorts of a five day enabling program offered to commencing students in the week prior to their formal university orientation program. The demographics of this sample (n=965) are such that over 50% come from low socio-economic backgrounds, about 50% are first in family to attend university, 50% are mature age students and over 50% have university entrance scores in the lower ranges of academic ability. Those who entered university with an OP1 score of 15 or less and completed the program were less likely to fail and achieved higher GPAs at the end of their first semester of studies than those who did not complete the enabling program

Independent studies in higher education: Great expectations or hard times?

This chapter presents a case of quality enhancement (QE) focusing on the issue of the independent work students are expected to undertake during their studies in Higher Education. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data gathered as part of a large-scale research exercise involving 113 undergraduate and 128 sixth form students of English. It goes on to explore the changing nature and role of students‘ subjective expectations by presenting data gathered through individual student interviews in which students reflect upon the factors shaping their independent learning experiences. Following the trajectory of expectations illustrated in Figure 1, it sets out a range of pedagogic interventions in this process, assessing outcomes via individual student interviews