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What UK Pupils Think Of Their 1st Year?Thu, May 11, 2006Source: The Higher Education AcademyThe first major study of UK students' first-year experiences has found that over 80% of students were happy with their choice of subject.The first major study of UK students' first-year experiences has found that over 80% of students were happy with their choice of subject, and the majority were confident that their studies would lead to a graduate-level job - but over half needed to undertake paid work to help fund their studies, and a similar number were worried about their finances. Over 6,000 students across a range of broad subject areas at 23 higher education institutions across the UK were asked about a wide range of aspects of their first year, including teaching, learning and assessment. One of the aims was to investigate the reasons why students do not return for a second year, and to compare the reasons for non-completion with those given in previous studies. We know that the first year of full-time study in higher education is the most critical for student continuation: on average 11% of full-time students in the UK do not re-enrol for the second year of their courses (according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency). This survey is particularly timely since the introduction of 'top-up' fees in England from September 2006 is likely to influence students' perceptions of, and reactions to, their experience in higher education. It appears that the more students know about their institutions and courses before enrolling, the less likely they are to consider dropping out. The study found that the likelihood of withdrawal was considerably affected by two key factors: students' prior knowledge of their institution and their course, and how stimulating they felt their teaching to be. 41% of students who knew little or nothing about their course before enrolment had thought of withdrawing, compared with 25% of those who knew a moderate amount or a lot. More than half the students who said they were having difficulty in coping with the demands of HE also said that they had considered withdrawing. For other students, the proportion who had considered withdrawing was around a quarter. While on the whole students seemed to be coping with their academic workloads, a third of respondents found academic work harder than they had expected it to be, and 38% found difficulty in balancing academic and other commitments. But there was also much good news emerging from the survey. Teaching was generally seen as supportive, and students felt stimulated in their learning. Staff were generally perceived as friendly: in most subject areas a majority of students said that at least two members of staff knew them by name. Most students thought that the feedback they received supported their learning, but in around one-third of the subject areas they did not think it was sufficiently prompt. 72% were confident that their programme would lead to an appropriate graduate-level job. However, for more than one-third of respondents, motivation levels had not been as high as they felt they might have been. Just under one-third had not done the expected background reading, and only one in ten had done any reading beyond the programme's requirements. Just over half of the respondents had missed some formally-timetabled sessions. The majority of students (57%) said that they needed to undertake paid employment to help fund their studies. Worry about financing was a concern to a similar majority (58%). The survey did not find any marked differences according to gender, nor between students from managerial/professional backgrounds and those from supervisory/technical/manual backgrounds, nor between those who were the first in their immediate family to go into HE and those who were not. These findings suggest that students from 'widening participation' backgrounds are experiencing HE in much the same way as their more privileged peers. Differences according to ethnicity were also small and mainly showed lower levels of engagement in the social aspects of HE. Students from outside Europe gave broadly similar responses to home and EU students, except that they had a slightly lower engagement in the social side of HE. Non-UK students were slightly less satisfied with student support services than UK students. They also tended to keep to themselves to a greater extent than UK students (especially so in the case of the non-European students). It should be emphasised that these are preliminary findings, but a full report about this phase of the study will be available in Autumn 2006. The next phase will focus on students who have not returned to their second year, and will take place early in 2007. A final report on the whole project will be available from the Academy in Autumn 2007. We would like to thank the 23 institutions and their staff and students who participated in the study. |