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Preparing students for Higher Education

Preparing students for Higher Education. A.Cook@ulster STAR project. Teaching styles Missing family Missing friends Staff relationships Support needed for study skills. Campus life Academic difficulties Difficulties living away from home Workload. False expectations.

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Preparing students for Higher Education

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  1. Preparing students for Higher Education A.Cook@ulster STAR project

  2. Teaching styles Missing family Missing friends Staff relationships Support needed for study skills Campus life Academic difficulties Difficulties living away from home Workload False expectations Aspects of life wrongly predicted by new students

  3. Health 1.2% Finance 1.4% Job 3.3% Another inst. 4.5% Another course 5.0% Unknown 7.7% Course unsuitable 8.7% Personal 10.4% Fail 16.0% Non returners 17.0% Withdrawn 24.5% total of 665 students Reasons given for leaving

  4. Reasons for leaving

  5. Expectation versus reality Entry requirements Applicants must satisfy the general entry requirements for admission to a first degree course. For entry to the Honours programme, GCSE passes at grade C or above in chemistry, mathematics and a foreign language are preferable. An A level or Irish Leaving Certificate (Higher level) in Biology is desirable. Student comments (selected) • “Loved it, except for one module which is chemistry that I have never seen before which has put me off the course.” • “I am doing a Biology course, the prospectus says, basic chemistry. The chemistry is NOT basic.”

  6. Reality check Prospectus Anatomical Science- In the first two years, the compulsory topics include Anatomy; Biochemistry; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology; Immunology; Neuroanatomy and Physiology; together with a variety of options in Genetics; Neurobiology; Pharmacology; and Zoology. Student comment (Selected) • “Course not what I expected, very misleading! No dissections for 1.5 years. I am doing a unit on Plants!??” • “The place is great but the course is not as specialized or as interesting as I was lead to believe it would be.”

  7. Not in prospectus • “Excellent, I have met great friends and the social life is great.” • “Great, good to get away from home and meet new people” • “I have enjoyed my first few months at this institution, although the workload was more than at first anticipated” (20hrs- lectures, 10hrs- study, 22hrs- paid work) • It’s hard but the social life is good”

  8. Managing transition Independent, enthusiastic, involved, communicative, present, sober End point ? Start point

  9. Summary 80% of students who leave, choose to do so. 30% leave to do something else 9% leave because the course was unsuitable We need students to make well-informed choices. We need to adapt the first Year to provide experiences relevant to the students we recruit.

  10. Why students leave

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