Returning Students Student Experience

Hunter, M. S., Tobolowsky, B., Gardner, J.N. and Associates (2010) Helping sophomores succeed: Understanding and improving the second year experience, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Helping Sophomores Succeed offers an in–depth and comprehensive understanding of the common challenges that arise in a student′s second year of college. This is a groundbreaking book offering an examination of second year student success and satisfaction using both quantitative and qualitative measures from national research findings. Helping Sophomores Succeed serves as a foundation for designing programs and services for the second year student population that will help to promote retention, academic and career development, and personal transition and growth.

Gardner, J.N. and Van der Veer, G. (1998) The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure and Transition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

The Senior Year Experience is the sequel to the 1989 classic book The Freshman Year Experience. This important book fills a gap in the literature on the topic of student transition. It offers a blueprint of ideas and strategies for ensuring that the end of the college experience is as promising as the beginning.

Morgan, M. (2011) Improving the Student Experience- A practical guide for universities and colleges, Oxon: Routledge

In this book, the Editor, Michelle Morgan describes how her new Student Experience ‘Practitioner Model’ provides an organised and more detailed structure for improving the student experience across the student lifecycle. The book guides practitioners in the identification of what they have to deliver, who they need to deliver it to and when they need to deliver it across her six key stages of the student lifecycle:

  • First Contact and Admissions;
  • Pre-arrival;
  • Arrival and Orientation;
  • Induction to Study;
  • Reorientation and Reinduction (Returners Induction)
  • Outduction (preparation for life after undergraduate study).

The Practitioner Model offers a concise way of thinking in terms of delivering ‘interlinked’ academic, welfare and support activities at the home unit and university level to support the student in their university journey. This book also provides working solutions to real problems in the form of exemplar case studies from the UK and internationally, including chapters from Liz Thomas, Di Nutt, Marcia Ody, Chris Keenan(UK), Mary Stuart Hunter, (USA), Kerri-Lee Krause and Duncan Nulty (Australia).

Moynihan. R (2019) ‘In university, you put your life on pause for three years’:an Exploration into the transitional experience of those Graduating from university -A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (MRes), Huddersfield: The University of Huddersfield

The following research was carried out to explore the transitional experiences of those who were graduating from university into their next step. The current research reviews previous transitional literature – from early educational transitions, to the transition to retirement – but focuses the analysis on the transition out of university. Available here

Neves, J. and Hillman, N. (2018) The Student Academic Experience Survey 2018, York: Advance HE/HEPI

The survey this year looks at workload, wellbeing and student perceptions of value for money. Available here

Neves, J. and Hillman, N. (2019) The Student Academic Experience Survey 2019, York: Advance HE/HEPI

The report shows that teaching remains the key factor which influences students’ perception of value, and it is very encouraging to see students reporting more favourably in this area. Looking at the teaching-staff characteristics, the report identifies an overall improvement, in particular in using contact hours to guide independent study. Available here