UNIVERSITY STUDIES AS A LIFE‐CYCLE STAGE

Abstract

This article is based on a series of studies of students at the University of Jyväskylä conducted by the author in 1981, 1984, and 1986. The series focussed on the life‐stages of students, asking such questions as what the basic life‐world structures of students are, how the ability of students to think scientifically develops, and what characterizes the period of university studies as a stage of life. The data were collected by interviewing a total of 204 students who had reached different stages in their studies and represented different disciplines. The method used was that of the semi‐structured thematic interview; the data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The life‐styles of students and their problems change during the courses of their individual academic experiences. A freshman's problems centre around the loosening of home ties and the learning of independent responsibility. During the next two years, the studies themselves and student‐life assume a central position, while questions relating to the founding of a family, entering work‐life, and the risk of experiencing financial difficulties come to the fore at the end of the undergraduate period. The development of the scientific thinking of students lines up with the life‐stages sketched above. The initial emphasis on the learning of facts gives way to a relativistic and critical way of appraising science and research. This more sophisticated approach to knowledge can lead to a personal theoretical point of view and to individual commitments at the end of the academic experience.