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
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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
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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
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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 tutors
Issues
• Student motivation
• Purposes of university education
• Managing student expectations