Fresher Transition into Tertiary Education: Challenges and Opportunities
- February 9, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: Education, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue I, January 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Fresher Transition into Tertiary Education: Challenges and Opportunities
Goddana Mensima Darko
College of Technology Education, Kumasi-University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
Abstract: – Studies indicate that when freshers are smoothly initiated and integrated into the tertiary education community, it enhances their engagement, performance and consequently, their career success. Unfortunately, most universities see fresher transition as a definite period of events rather than as a process in a continuum from the late phase of completion of high school through the entire period of study in the university. Hence beyond fresher orientation, other services that should aid transition into the higher education culture are rarely operationalized actively. This article highlights the characteristics of freshers, what higher education requires of them for effective academic and social survival. It brings forth the social and academic gap in culture between the actual needs of high school students for the university environment and the experiences they have. Based on existing theories of fresher transition, it proposes a conceptual framework that can be adopted by higher education institutions to facilitate fresher transition into the academic and social environment of universities.
Keywords: Fresher, Higher Education, Transition, Integration, Assimilation
I. INTRODUCTION
Every high school graduate aspiring to study in a university often looks forward to a smooth sail throughout their education. Rarely do they anticipate the rigour of higher education learning, the clash in culture and the complexity of socialization on the campuses of tertiary institutions. For some, the dream of having an enviable career after tertiary education hardly becomes a reality owing to the effect on their studies, a backlog of unresolved academic and social challenges experienced during their first-year encounter with tertiary education. In the course of integrating into the university environment, some students may drop out due to difficulties in coping with the university system (Thuo and Edda, 2017).
