Page 29 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 1
and students may be susceptible to programmes that are ‘branded’ in an attractive way (Chapleo, 2011), e.g., a brochure that focuses on the most interesting courses, includes interviews with the most satis ed students, and presents the job prospects framed in the most positive way possible. Research corroborates that there is a gap between the documents provided for prospective students and important factors students base their choice on: O en there are not su cient details about the academic and practical aspects of the programme (Hemsley- Brown & Oplatka, 2006), which puts students at risk of making an uninformed choice (Mortimer, 1997). So how do students know if what they see and read about a programme is a good representation of the actual programme they will be studying? is is especially problematic in the case of completely new subject matter, so when the degree programme is not part of or related to any secondary school subject. Examples are degree programmes in cultural anthropology, pedagogical sciences, and law. Both the topic and the learning environment will be new, which could make it even more di cult to form realistic expectations about studying at university. Once in university, if the expectations do not meet reality, a student may be disappointed and consider to quit or underachieve due to a lack of intrinsic motivation. Research con rms that satisfaction with the degree programme is related to retention and achievement (Suhre et al., 2007; Yorke & Longden, 2007) and that dissatisfaction is an important reason for dropout (De Buck, 2009; Wartenbergh & Van den Broek, 2008). Likewise, it can be expected that students who are satis ed with the programme they have chosen nd it easier to adjust academically to the new learning environment at university.
1.6 Main aim and research questions
e overarching goal of this thesis is to gain more insight into the transition from secondary education to university, in order to improve this transition, reduce dropout as well as study delays, and increase achievement in university. e following two research questions are central:
1. What student characteristics contribute to e ectively bridging the gap between secondary and university education and to success in the rst year at university?
2. What role do secondary school teachers currently play in preparing students for university?
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