Student Induction Programmes

Key Contacts Conference 2011

Alison Wride

University of Exeter Business School

GES Senior Academic Advisor

UK Higher Education in 2011

“…a model of Higher Education as an engaged partnership and shared responsibility between academics and students, rather than a simple service model”1

“If they didn’t think of themselves as consumers before they were paying £9k, they certainly will now”2

Arriving at University

• What it means

• Different types of students

• Different backgrounds academically

• Ages/nationalities

The 1989 Model

• Freshers’ week– settling into halls– physical registration– grant cheques– societies– making friends

In the last 5-10 years

• A different approach with freshers’ week commonly now known as induction/ welcome week

At Exeter driven by

• Recognition that we didn’t do enough

• Recognition that what we did wasn’t done well enough

• Recognition that welcome week is both an induction and an attraction

Sector-wide drivers for change

• Students as consumers– Fees, but also cultural change

• League tables– Progression/retention

• Media interest

• Role of parents

• Increasing internationalisation

Drivers for change within faculties

• Drive from ‘above’– Senior teams

• Drive from ‘alongside’ – Professional service staff– Academics

• Drive from ‘below’– Students

Different Approaches

• University level vs School/Faculty/College level

• Online/ pre-arrival induction

• First week sessions

• Ongoing sessions

• Roles of academics/professional services/other students

Specific Examples• University of the Arts http://www.arts.ac.uk/induction/• Northumbria- see online induction for EU/International

– http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/stud_serv/sws/int_adviser/isi/

plus sessions• Northumbria SASS• Nottingham Trent

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/cadq/welcome_week_student_transition/index.html

Common content

• Information- major component• Module/Option choices- more information• Using IT/library- more information• Study advice• Employability advice• Team building/ ice breaking sessions• Subject specific lectures- often by ‘stars’

Variability across sector

• Pre 92 / post 92– Casual empiricism

• HE in FE

• International students

• Content

• Philosophy

Research

An evaluation of student induction in higher education by Ahmed Hassanien and Alison Barber.International Journal of Management Education 2008 (Evaluates students perceptions of induction process)

The first year experience of higher education in the UK by Mantz Yorke and Bernard Longden. Final Report for HEA Project 2008

(Analyses the survey of students who leave during year 1 i.e. year 2 non-returners)

Yorke and Longden find that the literature on student experience suggests a number of broad areas of institutional activity through which student success can be influenced:

• an institutional commitment to student learning, and hence to student engagement

• proactive management of student transition• treating the curriculum as an academic milieu, and

also one in which social engagement is fostered

• choosing curricular structures that increase the chances of student success

• placing an emphasis on the first-year experience (including the provision of resources)

• systematically monitoring and evaluating student achievement, and acting on the evidence thereby collected

• academic leadership (although in some of the cited sources this is implicit rather than explicit).

Why socialisation matters “It Was Nothing to Do with the University, It Was Just the People”

Wilcox at al Studies in Higher Education Dec 2005

• This article argues that to understand higher education student retention, equal emphasis needs to be placed on successful integration into the social world of the university as into the academic world.

• The concept of "social support" is used to analyse interviews with 34 first-year students, investigating the processes through which social integration (or lack of it) influenced their decision as to whether or not to leave university.

• The authors find that making compatible friends is essential to retention, and that students' living arrangements are central to this process. Such friends provide direct emotional support, equivalent to family relationships, as well as buffering support in stressful situations.

• Course friendships and relationships with personal tutors are important but less significant, providing primarily instrumental, informational and appraisive support

It’s not just about dropping out

• Oxford study of suicide rates among students recommended “careful induction” upon arrival at university

Good Practice Guidelines

• Opportunities for student communication and socialisation

• Activities to support the transition process

• Academic and course related information

• Details of formal registration

• Tutor support

• Orientation programme

• A sense of belonging

• Early personal tutor identification

Forward thinking practice

• Follow up to ‘welcome week’ with an extended induction, with touch points throughout the year

• Building relationships • Extending academic groups to social networks- for

example making use of subject focused societies

Devising an induction programme

• Get a good mix of information, guidance and activities

• Give information in a format that can be checked afterwards and demonstrate how to access it

• Run as much as possible at faculty/school/department level

• Involve academic and professional service staff • Involve 2nd/final year students• Invoke competitive instinct, for example running

business games• This week is key to building relationships,

between you and the students and amongst students, put time and effort into it

• Follow up throughout year 1

Points made by groups•Administration

– Horrible admin PowerPoints

•Games•Lectures•Engaging with students•Orientation sessions•Departmental slot in general induction programme•Social event•Role of mentors•Formal meeting with tutorsIssues•Student motivation•Purposes of university education•Managing student expectations