First-year student experience: HE Academy/Lancaster University/Liverpool Hope University, UK

Citation

(2007), "First-year student experience: HE Academy/Lancaster University/Liverpool Hope University, UK", Education + Training, Vol. 49 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2007.00449dab.004

First-year student experience: HE Academy/Lancaster University/Liverpool Hope University, UK

The first major UK study of students’ first-year experiences in higher education has found that over 80 per cent of students found their studies stimulating and over 70 per cent thought the teaching they received was supportive – but nearly 60 per cent were worried about financing their studies and 58 per cent said they had to undertake paid work in order to support themselves while in higher education. The study aimed to find out what aspects of the student experience may affect students’ decision to withdraw from their studies – an area that has been under-researched in the UK. It found that the more students know about their institutions and courses before enrolling, the less likely they are to consider withdrawal.

The study was carried out in 2006 for the Higher Education Academy by Professor Mantz Yorke of Lancaster University and Professor Bernard Longden of Liverpool Hope University. The final report on the first phase of the study was published by the Higher Education Academy. Over 7,000 students were surveyed on their experiences of learning, teaching and assessment, and on other aspects of their first-year experience such as travel, finance and social life.

The picture presented by the survey is generally one of a good experience in most aspects of teaching and learning. The responses show that the greater the number of risk factors in a student’s experience, the greater the chance that the student will have considered withdrawing from the course. There is evidence of two potentially strong influences likely to make students consider withdrawing: worry over financing their studies and lack of good information about the institution and/or programme that they had entered. While funding was an issue for students of all ages, the survey showed that it was more significant for older students than for younger ones.

The survey found that 40 per cent of those who had little or no prior knowledge of their programme had considered withdrawal, whereas only 25 per cent of their better informed peers had done so. While the vast majority of respondents were coping with the demands of academic study, 56 per cent of those who were having difficulty in coping with academic study had considered withdrawal. Fifty-seven per cent said that feedback had helped them in their learning: however, 29 per cent said that feedback on their work had not been prompt. Thirty-four per cent of respondents said that academic work was harder than they expected it to be, and 39 per cent said that they had difficulty in balancing academic and other commitments. However, 72 per cent were confident that their studies would lead to an appropriate graduate-level job.

The “free text” responses provided by the students point to the importance of making friendships as a crucial element of a positive higher education experience. Institutions can assist in this process through the approaches they adopt to teaching – for example, by engaging students early on in activities that involve collaboration. Students also commented (favourably and unfavourably) on the quality of their experience in higher education. Perceived quality is likely to become more important in terms of student satisfaction, given that students are more aware of the costs of their higher education.

The next phase of the survey will focus on students who have not returned to their second year and their reasons for withdrawing, and will take place early in 2007. A final report on the whole project will be available from the Academy in Autumn 2007. An important aspect of the project is to see what connections might be made between the Phase 1 and Phase 2 findings. The full report is available at: www.heacademy.ac.uk/FYEsurvey.htm