Research has revealed a surprising – and surprisingly simple – early indicator of a student’s future success. In response to this, a programme has been developed for students to support them during their first weeks of college to build the skills necessary to make the transition from school to university.
Dr Gillian Mooney in conjunction with IIE academics Mary Robinson and Twané Lottering conducted the An investigation into the Effectiveness of a Soft Skills Support Programme for Students Entering Tertiary Education research project.
Their findings and recommendations are likely to make a significant impact on the readiness of undergraduate students where additional support as indicated is introduced by higher education institutions.
Flowing from the IIE’s research, a programme was introduced that is notching up the successes. Issues addressed in the programme presented to first-years during their first week in uni include how to work with resources, how to adjust to a student mindset, time management, understanding assessments, reading and research, presentation skills and future planning, among others.
“As an added bonus, the Empower Programme, as it is now called, leveraged peer learning run by senior students to help their freshmen peers settle into campus life as soon as possible, which means the programme was also of benefit to senior students.”
Mooney believes this latest research is helping to close the gap between the knowledge that students need additional support, and the actual support that will get them set for study success.
“Research has shown that a student’s autonomy and their ability to manage their time to do more complex work, combined with their academic research skills are essential to university success. We are delighted and confident to have founded an early-intervention programme which holds much promise for success for young students of the future across our 32 campuses nationwide,” said Mooney.