Investigating the transitional barriers university students face when moving from further education; what are the potential issues they may meet?

The transition students face moving from Further Education (FE) to Higher Education (HE) can be a daunting experience. This transition to HE may require a substantial adjustment to a student mindset recognising that they would be responsible for their own learning and their eventual success compared to a FE environment where student learning is more structured and primarily teacher led. This project investigated transition hurdles faced by new university students (level 4 students) in the School of Life Science, Pharmacy, and Chemistry (SoLSPC). Quantitative data was obtained using a paper-based questionnaire. The findings highlighted that most students found HE assessments to be moderately or more difficult than those in FE (53%), the HE timetables less structured (63%) than that in FE, and that students had to be very much more independent in their studies (68%) in HE compared to FE, with most students finding the transition to HE difficult (51%). The findings of these transition barriers are discussed in more detail here.