The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to better understand the transition from secondary school to higher education regarding students' assessment and written-exam experiences. We used mixed methods to investigate students' experiences of first-year university physics exams and cancelled secondary school exams, regarding their motivational…

This article employs a new approach to understanding student transition. This area of theory and practice has developed a huge global significance. However, transition as a concept is under-theorised, and a discourse that reiterates stereotypic narratives of students' normative and linear trajectories can be seen to permeate the field. Drawing on…

This study explored how international undergraduate students perceive their academic transition into American higher education. Schlossberg's (1984) 4S Transition Theory served as the framework for exploring what academic challenges, if any, international students experience during their first year of undergraduate studies in a new cultural and…

Evidence suggests that rising mental health concerns represent a critical issue in higher education. This issue takes on particular importance among first-year students as they transition to college and attempt to form meaningful relationships with their new peers. Social media interaction now represents a primary means of communication for…

Using ongoing interviews and focus groups, this longitudinal study examines perceptions of eight students entering a state-serving, public university about the role of social class in identifying symbolic boundaries in different layers of the environment (e.g., from small group to school-wide) in the transition from high school to college.…

Objective: To test a diathesis-stress model whereby self-criticism interacts with monthly perceived stress to predict same-month or next-month internalizing problems, including depression, anxiety, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and suicidal ideation, in students transitioning to university. Participants: 704 students (73% female, M[subscript…

Research has identified several aspects that influence students' transition to mathematics studies at university, but these aspects have often been studied separately. Our study contributes to the field's understanding of the transition between upper secondary and university mathematics by taking a multifaceted perspective not previously explored.…

Transition into higher education (HE) remains at the forefront of policy and practice in education worldwide (Gale & Parker, 2014). Transition as a process (Nicholson, 1990) in which individuals move from one stage to another may cause stress and discomfort that possibly lead to negative outcomes. Transition into HE is a particularly…

Purpose: Despite the increasing number of transnational universities around the world, little attention has been paid to students who attend foreign universities in their own countries and their adjustment to the new learning environment. This study aims to examine some of the adaptations freshmen students have to undergo while studying at an…

The social adjustment process is a prominent factor in the literature on the transition to higher education (HE). This vast body of research, however, has predominantly focussed on academically oriented first-year higher education (FYHE) contexts, leaving professionally oriented programs (providing vocational education that prepares students for a…

How does students' academic commitment develop over the course of their first term? Process research on students' early academic experiences has been scarce due to a lack of appropriate high-density-high-frequency research designs. We thus have very limited knowledge on how students become academically committed over time. Drawing on the analogue…

First-year university students encounter considerable academic stress, possibly resulting in mental health problems. Although studies have illustrated the academic and health benefits of sense of belonging, few studies have focused on its role in the relationship between academic stress and mental health complaints. The current study used…

What is at stake when our young people attempt to belong to a college environment that reflects a world that does not want them for who they are? In this compelling book, Navajo scholar Amanda Tachine takes a personal look at 10 Navajo teenagers, following their experiences during their last year in high school and into their first year in…

Prior research has explored how international students' interactions with domestic students and with other international students predict their self-reported short-term outcomes, particularly in the context of the environmental challenges that international students may encounter. The present study builds upon this earlier work by using…

Despite the rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, little research has been conducted to pinpoint the challenges faced by students. This quantitative study explored the challenges posed by the secondary-tertiary transition to first-year students with different English proficiency levels in EMI higher education…