First Year Students’ Perceptions of the Transition to University: The Role of Informational, Instrumental, and Emotional Support

Abstract

As students transition from high school to university, they must navigate new academic learning environments, develop new social networks, manage multiple new responsibilities, explore and regulate independence, and deal with the stressors that they will encounter. Successful transitioning to university often involves sources of support as well as internal resources. The current study aimed to understand supports and challenges of first year undergraduate students in their transition to university. A total of 66 first year undergraduate students participated in this study. Participants answered four open-ended questions about supports and personal factors during their transition to university. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and codes were systematically generated across the dataset. Themes were identified once coding was complete. The four themes that emerged were informational, instrumental, and emotional supports, and internal resources. Students transitioning to university may benefit from transition programs and resilience modeling to facilitate a successful transition.