A smooth transition?

Abstract

While the most common type of student entering higher education falls within the 17—19-year-old age group, universities in the UK are keen to accept other categories of students onto programmes as a means of increasing diversity and maintaining student numbers in the latter portion of a programme. One such category is those students who enter a programme directly into the second or third year through informal articulation agreements between institutions and the recognition and granting of credit for previous studies or experience. This article examines the expectations of a cohort of students entering directly into the second and third year of an undergraduate degree in the business school of a Scottish university. This study identified a range of learning, personal and working issues amongst this group of students. Academic concerns included the ability to cope with a higher academic level, time management, assessments and study skills. Personal issues focused on coping with existing responsibilities and achieving an appropriate work/life balance. This article identifies the need to develop such students' academic self-confidence in the early stages of their time at university and indicates that this group of students has specific needs and requires additional institutional support.