University enabling programs provide historically underrepresented students with aspirational gateways and the academic skills and knowledges essential for success at university. Measurement of the efficacy of such programs has been typically neoliberal and quantitative in nature. This article argues for a nuanced measurement of success, exploring…

Despite a large number of Sino-foreign joint education programmes, little research has examined the pre-departure academic preparations of students on these programmes. This study aims to fill the research gap by interviewing 22 Chinese students on 2 + 2 programmes studying at an Australian host university. Findings show that while more than half…

Primary to secondary school transition is an important time for young children as it marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. For some, there is "too much stuff for my brain to handle" (Participant 3) with many changes happening concurrently as students enter their new learning environment, in a context of adolescent changes.…

Homesick disposition, an individual's expectation about becoming homesick in the future, has been identified as an important predictor of homesickness. Homesick disposition can be detected and measured even before the separation from home has taken place, making it particularly relevant to understanding feelings and perceptions of rural school…

The transition from school to university is challenging and a greater knowledge of the first-year student experience will enable staff to better support their students. University- and government-run student surveys fail to capture the depth and breadth of the first-year experience and so qualitative research is needed to get a more nuanced and…

Belonging is critical to first-year student success and persistence in higher education. However, differing definitions make it challenging to fully understand why belonging is significant. Foregrounding student voice, this research explored how first-year Australian university students talked about their belonging. Using Kahu and Nelson's (2018)…

The first-year student experience is attracting attention within Australian higher education, where heightened concerns exist in relation to the successful transition of students to university life. This paper presents a critical reflection of the process involved in an action research project in a collaboration between academics and first-year…

The sifting and sorting mechanisms of Australia's education system continue to work to the detriment of groups put at a disadvantage. For mainstream schools serving working-class communities in particular, the rejection of the offers and advantages of schooling continue to result in differential class consequences and inequalities for…

While university participation rates among Indigenous Australians have been on the rise in recent years, parity targets remain elusive. In this context, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how aspirations for higher education are formed and nurtured. Studies tend to focus on barriers to access, often in ways that position Indigenous…

Social capital can positively influence students' postsecondary aspirations and their postschool transitions to higher education and employment. Educators, families, and young people themselves can play an active role in generating and developing adolescents' social capital. A targeted focus on developing robust social capital could play an…

Belonging is considered to be a positive foundation for students' well-being and success at university; however, in this article, we argue that it is time to think about belonging more critically. This research highlights how students experience and create multiple belongings. Drawing upon empirical data from interviews and video blogs with…

International students' capacity to undertake a digital journey to embrace new digital resources has real life implications in terms of their ability to adjust to their new environment. This article explores links between international students' use of online social networking sites and their social networks, including drawing on digital resources…

This research explored the academic and non-academic lived experiences of higher degree onshore international doctoral students studying in one Australian university. While the academic dimension of experiences included curricular, resource, research and supervision issues, the non-academic dimension focussed on students' inter-personal…

This paper explores memories of children in the upper years of primary school about their transition into the first year of school and the ways in which this transition impacted on their ongoing relationship with primary school. The insights shared by eleven Year four and five students (aged 10-11 years; five boys and six girls) in an Australian…

Research shows that higher education can help veterans build a new sense of identity, purpose and belonging after leaving the military. There are critical gaps, however, in our understanding of student veterans in the Australian context. This article aims to map the experiences of Australian veterans across the student life cycle to improve our…