The paper illustrates the role of University in helping university students’ transition into campus life. The study shoes the various methods used by the University institutions to help new freshman students adopt to college/campus life. The paper uses quantitative survey to find response to determine the effectiveness of university methods and staff in assisting new students’ transition into university life. The results of the study indicate that university staff, clubs and activities/events play a major role in assisting new students’ transition. The research indicates that university should involve student participation in designing programs that will help them transition well into institutions of higher learning or universities.
Introduction
The initial first-year experience for students joining universities/collages plays a vital role throughout their campus life. Proper orientation will enable students to cope with university life and challenges throughout their campus life. The university presents a world of different aspirations and expectations to high school graduates. Many high school grandaunts are eager and enthusiastic to join the universities while other remains wary or have no clue of what to expect. New students who have friends or family who has attended the college are better prepared to attend university (Budescu & Silverman, 2017). The role university staff, academic and social advisors play is essential to transitioning first-year students into college life. The faculties staffs form the first point of contact between the new students and the institution. The University of IOWA has various programs ranging from IOWA’s link program, Academic seminars, Collaborative learning and a two-day orientation program to help new freshman students' transition into the university. The primary goal of the transition program is to teach the new students time management, help them transition from high school students into university life; develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Academic success and adjustment depend on the level of preparedness of students when they join the university. According to Hughes and Smail, many institutions offer theoretical solutions to help students transition into university life, but that remains ineffective because the new freshman does not understand their environment (Hughes & Smail, 2015). The new students have little or no knowledge of the academic demands, class scheduling and the number of activities and organizations available in the institution. Many universities and colleges believe that the induction, awareness and preparedness programs they hold in universities are excellent. However, the programs still have communication skills gap both oral and written, which the university should teach new students. Students have various reasons for attending universities, but the primary objectives relate to the desired educational needs. Recent studies indicate that vocational training was the most critical objective for new university students (Boudreaul, 2015). Other studies suggest that basic education was the primary goal of new freshman students. Many students cited going to school to ensure jib placement as the primary reasons for attending university or college followed by doing what interests them. All in all the primary goal of most university attendees is to ensure they learn skills that will assist them in making money. Colleges and universities have an important role in providing that students move from their perceptions of university experience into reality. The choice of the university comes from many factors namely institution reputation, financial considerations, and recreational programs, ethical and religious considerations.
An important aspect of university life comes from social integration and participation in extra curriculum activities. It remains the sole responsibility of the universities to equip new freshman students’ with knowledge regarding sports, clubs, social and cultural events. In some cases, new students already have expectations of participating in those activities. At IOWA University, half the new students expressed their interest, and an additional 90% wanted to become members of a club. Currently, there exists a gap in identifying the needs of specific new freshman students (Kangas, Rantanen, & Kettunen, 2017). The paper tries to evaluate how universities can bridge the gap through admission assessments to identify specific needs of new freshman instead of using a generalized approach in dealing with new students. The variables that will result in students success in higher learning institutions remains an essential aspect for colleges/universities to consider when designing and implementing orientation programs for new students in their institutions.
Methods
The research on the effectiveness of the university orientation and introduction of new students used quantitative survey of thirty first-year students in three months to evaluate the activities they took part in, events attended, people who assisted them in their transition and operations, which they took part. To develop a greater insight on the general perception and interaction of the students with the university, the new students responded to interview question on whether they felt that the university assisted them in the transitioning program.
The Resources New Students accessed during their First Three Months
The research focused on evaluating the kind and availability of resources the students’ accessed during the first three months taking response on the number of students who managed to get help from Academic Staff(Help labs, Tutors, lecturers), mental health assistance, students health and other university staff who offered any form of assistance. The research on resources got 44 responses and converted the number of response into a percentage to generate statistical information as illustrated in graph 1.0 in the appendix section.
Events Attended by New Students
The study collected information and received 44 responses on various events the new students participated in or attended during the first three months in schools ranging from football, homecoming dinner and sorority recruitment as displayed in image 1.0 in the appendix section.
The People Who Assisted the Students and Activities involved in during the First Three Months
The study did a survey to look at the various people who assisted the students during the first three months ranging from University staff to family and friends. The research collected response on the help received from Resident Hall Assistants (RA), Professors, Teaching Assistants, Academic Advisors, Tutors, Peers, Parents, Siblings and any other person who assisted the new freshman students. The results were recorded in Graph 1.1 as displayed in the appendix section. The study also gathered information and received 40 responses on various student activities the student participated in documented findings in Graph 1.2
Students Satisfaction on University Assistance in helping them Transition into University Life
Ultimately, the study gathered information 44 responses to illustrate the level of satisfaction by first-year students on University assistance help to transition into campus life and displayed the data in pie chart 1.0
Results
The study indicates that a majority of students managed to get assistance from the university staff. 52.3% of the new students managed to get assistance from academic assistance, 36.4% received help from Students' health assistant, and 31.8% received support from other people. Only 2.3% of new students received support from the Mental Health Assistant due to the limited number of people with reported health complications.
Majority of the students attended various events in the campus with only 4.5% of the respondents did not participate in any event. The research found out that 43.2% received help from Resident Hall Assistant, 11.4% got professors' help, and Teaching assistant helped 15.9% of the students. A further 36.4 new students received support from academic advisors, and 9.1% received help from tutors. The majority of help to new students came from peers/friends who constituted 93.2% and parents falling firmly at 68.2%. Siblings and other people represented 43.2% and 9.1% respectively of people who assisted the new freshman students to transition into university life. Majority of the students, 82.5% joined sponsored clubs in the university.
Finally, a majority of the students feel that the university played an essential role in their transition with 49.9% strongly agreeing and 50% contented with the universities’ efforts. Only a negligible number of people disagree with the universities efforts in assisting them to transition.
Discussion
The study shows the efforts made by the university to help the students' transition to campus life. The academic staff efforts provide good support to new students regarding their studying requirements and expectations. The various activities that the new students attend and participate in enables them to interact with each other, and the university staff was making it easier to adopt campus life. New students’ engagement in activities, clubs, societies, and interaction with Academic and non-academic staff makes it easier to integrate and transition into university life.
However, various students have different needs and objectives that they want to achieve in university. It will be critical to conduct another research on the need to do assessments on new students to identify their specific needs. The current study uses a general approach in determining the effectiveness of universities programs and policies in helping new freshman students' transition into university life. The lack of assessment of each new students leads to a lack of knowledge and limited programs to assist the new students' transition well into university life.
Conclusion
The university staff remains the most important individuals to help new freshman students' transition into university life. Various university programs like new students orientation, passing information to students regarding available activities, clubs, societies, and academic opportunities help improve the success of transition and retention of students in universities. The success of transition and retention of students will require the design of new programs to address individual needs in universities.
Reference
Budescu, M., & Silverman, L. R. (2016). Kinship support and academic efficacy among college students: A cross-sectional examination. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(6), 1789-1801.
Hughes, G., & Smail, O. (2015). Which aspects of university life are most and least helpful in the transition to HE? A qualitative snapshot of student perceptions. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 39(4), 466-480.
Leroux-Boudreault, A., & Poirier, N. (2015). TRANSITIONING TO HIGH SCHOOL: THE PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS WITH ASD AS OPPOSED TO THEIR PEERS. Copyright© 2015 World Institute for Advanced Research and Science, 289.
Kangas, J., Rantanen, E., & Kettunen, L. (2017). How to facilitate first-year students learning and support their transition to a university study environment. European Journal of Engineering Education, 42(6), 668-683.
Appendix
Graph 1.0
Image 1.0
Graph 1.1
Graph 1.2
Pie Chart 1.0
