Induction of New Students to Higher Education

SUMMARY

International work on the transition into higher education is summarized, together with data on early student withdrawal and attempts to explain this and to make productive interventions.

The results presented are of a nine‐month study by a project team, working on total quality principles, of the induction of new students to the University of Westminster from 1993 to 1995. The findings lead to a number of suggestions about good practice, in particular: the importance of social integration for full‐time students; the need for peer support networks and a consistently understood and applied tutorial system; the need for understanding and diagnosis of students’ previous knowledge and skills; making induction student‐centred and recognizing the diverse needs of students; not attempting everything in week 1; making the university's expectations of students explicit; and the need for induction to be integrated into courses but to be monitored for consistency and effectiveness.