Pre-arrival questionnaires highlight entrant preparedness

Just like the many varieties of the student experience itself, the pre-arrival expectations of students (arriving at undergraduate or postgraduate level) are highly variable.

That’s the not unexpected key takeaway from an Office for Students funded pilot of Michelle Morgan’s “Pre-arrival Questionnaire” (PAQ). Some 5,548 undergraduate entrants (across 15 providers) and 2,285 postgraduates (across 13 providers) participated in the largest scale pilot of this approach so far. And the results are in.

Morgan has been promoting and using pre-arrival questionnaires for more than a decade. She argues that to best support the transition between levels of study we need to have a fuller understanding of the expectations and preferences that applicants are bringing with them. It’s a curious gap in a system that otherwise surveys students on most aspects of their experience both during and beyond the scope of their course (the exception here is the seldom-seen UCAS applicant survey).

Students arrive at higher education with distinct learning histories – driven in part by a range of prior educational experiences at school or college. These mental models of learning – supported by substantial timetabled teaching and a primarily knowledge-driven curriculum – do not mesh well with the more adult approaches (self-direction, independent curiosity-driven learning) that exemplify higher education.

The survey results suggest that students are well-prepared for the practical aspects of transition (87 per cent, for instance, feel supported in finding suitable accommodation) less than three quarters feel they understand the level of work expected of them (73 per cent) and getting involved in university life (70 per cent).

If that latter finding is ringing “belonging” bells for you, be aware that only 68 per cent of applicants feel prepared to form new friendships, and 69 per cent feel able to balance study with wider life demands. Younger students, disabled students, commuter students, and those with caring responsibilities tend to feel less prepared for their university life. The recommendation here is for targeted early-transition support for at risk groups.

Academic readiness concerns, and those around course fit, are particularly acute among students with declared disabilities. We know that a special educational needs and disability (SEND) plan is an important marker of the likelihood of an entrant having significantly more entry concerns – the survey shows that 56 per cent of these entrants anticipate needing specific academic support, 55 needing mental health support, and 73 per cent needing wider support linked to disability and additional learning needs. Tailored support would clearly be hugely beneficial here, which makes it all the more upsetting that SEND plans are not routinely shared with universities. Likewise (albeit harder to track), students who experienced loneliness in their previous study environment are much more likely to be concerned about difficulties with social integration and making friends.

In an environment where jobs in the sectors that have historically employed students (hospitality, retail) are becoming scarce, the finding that 89 per cent of students will be looking for paid work during the academic year, though only 47 per cent expected to be working during term-time (substantially below the Student Academic Experience Survey finding of 68 per cent). Over half of applicants are concerned about the cost of living, and 42 per cent are concerned about levels of debt – with three in ten expecting to need additional financial support from their university. These would be disturbing findings in and of themselves – knowing these are under-estimates of the struggles students actually face adds to that sense.

More than a third (37 per cent) of applicants expected to receive more than 16 hours of contact time a week, with just 24 per cent expecting to spend more than 16 hours on independent study. There were some differences in these expectations across subject areas, but these did not reflect the wide variations in teaching and learning practice in actual disciplines. The call here is for clear discipline-specific expectations to be set by universities during the pre-enrollment period.

We are, of course, looking at a self-selecting sample of students and providers with significant differences from the wider sector population – and as such these findings should be taken as indicative of wider issues. The gold standard would be for every university to take a direct interest in pre-arrival needs and expectations: and a standardised approach would be helpful in addressing sector wide issues as they arise.

The trial of the PAQ will continue in Wave 2 – and there is information for prospective participants available alongside a request to participate form.