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University students’ expectations of digital technologies in their studies are greatly influenced by their previous exposure both within the secondary school classroom and in their private lives. These expectations often play a powerful role in their approaches and learning strategies in their first-year university classes. In this work, we investigated students’ expectations and utilisation of digital technologies in their transition from high school to tertiary studies. A survey encompassing the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Paradigm was conducted amongst second year students across the university. The results showed students expected to use advanced IT technologies and equipment at university. The high expectations were similar regardless of demographic parameters, such as gender, school type or field of studies. The findings also indicated that most students perceived little disconnection between the technology they used in high school and that of university. The majority of students seemed satisfied and even positively surprised by the use of technology in their university courses.

Students from a high socioeconomic background show relatively homogeneous, high levels of educational attainment, whereas students with a low socioeconomic origin display a large variability in their educational careers. In this paper, we examine whether the varying degrees of students' academic self-efficacy can contribute to an explanation of this variation. Focusing on Germany's highly stratified educational system, we utilized the CILS4EU dataset to analyse the association between the academic self-efficacy of students from low and high socioeconomic backgrounds in 9th grade and their later educational aspirations and transitions. Our results show that students from non-academic families are much more likely to (a) aspire to an Abitur, (b) transition to upper secondary school, and (c) enter tertiary education if they exhibit a high level of academic self-efficacy. In contrast, academic self-efficacy shows no link to the educational aspirations and decisions of students who have at least one parent with an academic certificate. Our research is guided by the question 'to what extent do adolescents' educational and political efficacy beliefs influence their later educational and political behaviour?' Thus, the project seeks to examine what happens when adolescents of a disadvantaged (vs. advantaged) group (operationalized by socio-economic status and immigrant origin) experience success (vs. failure) in the education system: How are their personal, group, and system efficacy beliefs shaped by those experiences? As part of this, we utilize the CILS4EU data to follow students' educational pathways from age 14 to age 22 and analyse socioeconomic differences in the link between students' academic self-efficacy and their educational aspirations and decisions.

Transitioning from high-school to university can be difficult, and many university teachers feel students are often ill-prepared for the change. To investigate this 233 Humanities and Science students at the University of Adelaide were surveyed 6 months into their first year regarding experiences of teaching and learning at university. 189 students were also surveyed 18 months after commencement, to gain retrospective views of their transition year, as were lecturers and tutors of both groups. Results were compared to similar Orientation Week questionnaires that focused on expectations. Questions included reasons for selecting degrees, quality of teacher feedback and perceived impact of outside commitments. Even though student expectations, student experience, and teacher views differed, remarkable similarities emerged across the two degree programs (Science and Humanities). Our findings thus highlight a call for non-specialised transition programs to meet the needs of first year students and facilitate the transition from secondary to tertiary education. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).

Investigating the transition between the secondary and the tertiary levels is a main theme in mathematics and science education. More so, this paper considers the transition that intersects with the after-effects of COVID-19, or the transition together with an educational context dominated by sociocultural differences and educational disadvantages. With this knowledge in mind, we investigated the effects of predictive mathematical models (multiple regression, logistic regression, and decision trees) to predict at-risk students at three time intervals (weeks one, three, and seven) in the semester. The idea was implemented with a first-year life science class of 130 students. Variables from an academic readiness questionnaire along with early assessment grades were used to build these models. Through a Monte Carlo cross validation method, the performance of the executed predictive models was assessed, and limitations were reported. We argue that the results obtained from predictive models can support both lecturers and students in the transition phase. The idea can be expanded to other courses in STEM fields and other educational contexts.

Background To master the secondary–tertiary transition into fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), academic self-beliefs play a pivotal role, especially those related to learning mathematics. The framework of expectancy-value theory has been used widely in primary and secondary education and partly in tertiary education to assess the self-beliefs of students in terms of expectancy of success and perceived value of mathematics. Based on this framework, we measured how the intrinsic value, the attainment value, the utility value, and the cost of learning mathematics as well as the expectancy of success when learning mathematics developed during the secondary–tertiary transition of students into STEM fields. Data were collected in a quantitative repeated-measures questionnaire study with two measurement points (measurement point 1: n  = 710, measurement point 2: n  = 487, listwise: n  = 409). We conducted a latent profile analysis to identify the prevalent patterns of mathematics self-beliefs, called profiles , at each of the two measurement points. We studied the relation of these profiles to prior education, achievement at school, and achievement at university. By performing a latent transition analysis, we determined the probabilities of transitioning from the initial profiles to the posterior profiles. Results Our analysis revealed four distinct prevalent profiles at each measurement point, ranging from highly favorable (i.e., high expectancy, high value, low cost) to highly unfavorable with respect to learning mathematics. The profiles with favorable manifestations remained stable over time, while those with undesirable manifestations deteriorated further. We observed a sharp increase in cost across all profiles. Prior achievement correlated strongly with profile membership. Conclusions The expenditure of time and energy increased sharply during the secondary–tertiary transition, independently of the students’ initial motivational patterns. The perceived utility of mathematics for potential future careers was shown to be a significant source of motivation. The role of mathematics in future careers should thus be made visible in university teaching. Keeping the detrimental development of initially undesirable motivational profiles in mind, university teachers should create ample opportunities for students to gain a sense of accomplishment.

As earlier research results suggest that many mathematics teaching students criticize a missing relevance in their studies, we explore explanations and interrelationships of their relevance assessments. We aim at finding out how one could support the students in attributing relevance to their study programs. A two-fold model for relevance assessments in mathematics teacher education is proposed, consisting of relevance content and relevance reasons. We investigate students' relevance perceptions of mathematical topics and of topics’ complexities, as well as their rating of individual and societal/ vocational relevance reasons, all in relation to their perception of the relevance of their overall program of study. Contrary to earlier research findings, our results suggest that mathematics teaching students already do attribute relevance to many content areas and that a preparation for the teaching profession is not the only reason for them to assign relevance. There also seem to be many students who would attribute relevance if they could develop as individuals and pursue their interests. We suggest that giving students opportunities to set individual priorities in their studies could hence support their relevance assessments. As low relevance assessments seem to be connected to students’ motivational problems, students might profit from motivational support, as well.

There is widespread recognition that higher education institutions (HEIs) must actively support commencing students to ensure equity in access to the opportunities afforded by higher education. This role is particularly critical for students who because of educational, cultural or financial disadvantage or because they are members of social groups currently under-represented in higher education, may require additional transitional support to \"level the playing field.\" The challenge faced by HEIs is to provide this \"support\" in a way that is integrated into regular teaching and learning practices and reaches all commencing students. The Student Success Program (SSP) is an intervention in operation at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) designed to identify and support those students deemed to be at risk of disengaging from their learning and their institution. Two sets of evidence of the impact of the SSP are presented: First, its expansion (a) from a one-faculty pilot project (Nelson et al. in Stud Learn Eval Innov Dev 6: 1-15, 2009) to all faculties and (b) into a variety of applications mirroring the student life cycle; and second, an evaluation of the impact of the SSP on students exposed to it. The outcomes suggest that: the SSP is an example of good practice that can be successfully applied to a variety of learning contexts and student enrolment situations; and the impact of the intervention on student persistence is sustained for at least 12 months and positively influences student retention. It is claimed that the good practice evidenced by the SSP is dependent on its integration into the broader First Year Experience Program at QUT as an example of transition pedagogy in action.

The Chinese government has acknowledged that in order to turn Chinese universities into world class institutions, it will have to grant them a greater degree of autonomy. However, the reforms that have been introduced to achieve this goal run counter to a long tradition of central government oversight. The question now presenting itself is how much actual control government has devolved to universities. The qualitative evidence presented in this paper, obtained through interviews with university presidents and Party secretaries, not only confirms that, as one might expect, Chinese universities continue to operate “in the shadow of hierarchy,” but also and more importantly that formal efforts to devolve authority are being rendered ineffective by informal pressures and control mechanisms. Discussion reflects on the state of play in Chinese public administration studies, and urges public policy researchers examining devolution in China to account for both formal reforms and everyday “lived experiences.” 中国政府认识到要创建世界一流大学需要给大学授予一定程度自主权, 但是为实现这一目标的改革与中国传统的政府治理模式背道而驰, 这里呈现的问题是政府到底授予大学多大的自主权？本论文采访了目前在职的中国大学校长和党委书记, 基于这些质性数据我们判定中国大学不但仍然行驶在统治阶级的阴影下, 而且更为重要的是即使形式上政府有授权也被实际上大学行政层面非正式的压力和控制机制所抵消。最后讨论反思了中国公共治理研究目前的状态, 同时我们鼓励目前中国公共政策的研究者研究中国政府给管辖机构授权时要把正式的改革和相关行政官员每天鲜活的治理活动都考虑进去。

This study reports on two key aspects relating to the use of the Online Learning Readiness Self-Check (OLRSC) survey, which has been proposed as identifying non-traditional students’ readiness for online learning, and their strengths and weaknesses in six key areas.  The first aspect validates the use of the instrument based on data from 199 students engaged in an online tertiary enabling course at a regional university in Australia.  Factor analysis verified the scale structure of the instrument; however, two items were removed prior to the final analysis due to low communality and/or high cross loading with other items. This is followed by an examination of whether the instrument might be useful for the early identification of students who are at risk of disengagement from the enabling program. While it was hypothesised that the instrument, which measured factors such as the quality of interaction with peers and instructors, their capacity to manage technology and how well they managed learning, should have been a useful tool to identify early disengagement, the hypothesis was not supported.  No significant associations were identified between any of the instrument’s scales and early withdrawal from the course or completion of the first unit of study. Future recommendations for educators are made with a view to improving student engagement.

Although many Australian universities have been proactive in responding to students' diverse needs through orientation and support programs, very little is known about programs needed for the successful transition of students from refugee backgrounds into tertiary study. Facilitating the early engagement of students with their studies and campus life is linked to greater student satisfaction, improved retention rates and better educational outcomes. One of the challenges that academics face is the paucity of research on the learning styles and academic needs of African and Middle Eastern students from refugee backgrounds. This article reports on a needs analysis undertaken with a group of students from refugee backgrounds in Victoria and Western Australia, using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Participants were currently enrolled or had recently graduated from Monash University, Deakin University or RMIT in Victoria, and Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia. Participants reported that current support systems and programs are inadequate or non-existent and that many feel disadvantaged compared to Australian-born and international students. The article concludes with recommendations on how universities can better respond to the needs of students from refugee backgrounds. [Author abstract, ed]