Final Dissemination Events of START Resources – France
In April, the French team of the Erasmus+ START project organized three dissemination workshops hosted by Sorbonne University, Le Mans University, and the University of Poitiers — the French coordinating institution of the project. These events were key moments for showcasing the project’s results, bringing together over 70 participants from the higher education sector, including lecturers, researchers, educational advisors, and guidance counselors.
Each workshop was designed as a collaborative and engaging space, structured around three main components: a presentation of the project’s objectives and the methodology used to develop the START resources; an interactive group exploration of the materials through a serious game; and a final discussion session where participants could exchange insights, reflections, and ideas for implementation.
Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Many highlighted how the challenges addressed by the project resonated with their own teaching experiences and with the needs of their students. The START resources were praised for being rich in content, relevant, practical, and inspiring. Several attendees expressed a strong interest in adapting and integrating the resources into awareness-raising and training activities within their own institutions.
These workshops marked a significant milestone in the final phase of the START project in France, illustrating the engagement of the academic community and the concrete impact of the resources developed. The project concludes with strong momentum for dissemination and adoption, fully aligned with the spirit of collaboration and innovation that has guided START from the outset.
START Final Events in Spain - Part 1
On March 26th, the START team in UPM organized a face-to-face event to let teachers from other universities and high-schools explore the resources developed during the project and debate about the student transition.
18 attendees tested the tools we created to promote awareness among lecturers, to self-evaluate our performance in supporting student transition, to find useful tips to improve it, and to find ways to build bridges between schools and universities helping students to know the options they have and how they fit into their own interests.
As the main conclusion extracted from this study, we observed that newcomers start University with high expectations and a very positive perception of themselves… or, at least, so they say.
We closed the session with an open and stimulating debate, where we interchanged good (and bad) practices, and listened to each other to broaden our understanding about student transition to University.
As a conclusion to this event, UPM’s START team decided to replicate it in different universities and schools throughout the Community of Madrid in order to reach other academics and teachers directly on their facilities.
START LinkedIn Page & Campaign Launched
We are excited to share that the START Erasmus+ Project now has its own LinkedIn page! 
Launched on 12th March 2025, it has 286 follows by now (14th April 2025) – really exciting!
Through this page, we are sharing exclusive insights, research, and ready-to-use materials designed to help educators navigate this crucial stage in students’ academic journeys.
Now, we invite YOU to be part of this journey! 
Follow our page to access the latest resources and research.
Engage with us—share your thoughts and experiences!
Spread the word—tag colleagues who would benefit from these materials!
Let’s work together to build more inclusive higher education worldwide
Result 4 Online Multiplier Events: Africa, North America, Latin America, the Philippines and Europe
In March 2025, the START project held its final series of online multiplier events focused on Result 4 – Supporting Student Transition to Higher Education by Bridging the Inter-Sectoral Communication Gap. Following the strong engagement in February, three additional sessions brought together educators, students, and institutional representatives from across Africa, North America, Latin America, Europe and the Philippines.
On 20 March, START hosted an English-language session aimed at participants from Africa, North America, and Europe, who contributed to dynamic discussions by sharing local perspectives and successful strategies for supporting students at this critical stage in their life. An unexpected but highly meaningful session took place the very next day, 21 March. Due to a high number of last-minute registrations from the Philippines — where the original event time was not ideal locally — the team decided to host this additional session specifically for that group.
The final event in this series took place on 27 March, this time in Spanish, and focused on stakeholders from Latin America and Europe, who discussed the Result 4 START project’s findings in the context of their own educational systems, drawing attention to the importance of intersectoral partnerships, transparent communication, and early guidance to support students’ academic pathways.
Across the events, the rich variety of viewpoints shared by more than 100 participants truly stood out. Their insights reinforced the core message of START Result 4: that clear communication and strong collaboration between schools and universities are essential for helping students navigate the transition to higher education more effectively. These final sessions marked the conclusion of the dissemination of Result 4, while also underscoring the global relevance of the START project’s work.
Supporting First-Year Students: Final START Project Events in Maribor and Zagreb
In March 2025, the Slovenian team of the Erasmus+ project START (Supporting Teachers who Support Student Transition) successfully held two final dissemination events—on March 14th at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Slovenia, and on March 21st at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb.
Led by Slovenian project coordinator Dr. Janez Krek, the events brought together 14 Slovenian and 12 Croatian participants, mostly higher education professionals working with first-year students.
The START team presented the main motivation behind the project—the academic and personal challenges students face when transitioning to university—and took a closer look at some of the more useful project results:
- the Mindmap of First-Year Student’s Challenges, which provides a structured overview of the main difficulties students experience.
- Self-assessment tools that help teachers and institutions evaluate how effectively they support students during this transition.
Both events encouraged meaningful exchanges between institutions and highlighted the value of teacher support in ensuring smoother transitions and greater student success.
February 2025 - Result 4 Online Multiplier Event: Asia and Europe
On 11 February 2025, Education for an Interdependent World (EDIW) – together with all the other START partners – hosted a multiplier event: Supporting Student Transition to Higher Education by Bridging the Inter-Sectoral Communication Gap – Asia & Europe, focused on Result 4: A Collection of Good Practices for Bridging the Communication Gap Between Higher Education and Pre-University Education Sectors. This 90-minute session, conducted in English, brought together 58 participants from 10 countries across Asia and Europe, including university students, faculty, and school personnel.
The event began with a presentation outlining the START project’s background and key findings, particularly concerning Result 4, which established a foundation for focused small group discussions. During these discussions, participants had the opportunity to share their experiences, local context insights and collaboratively explore good practices related to student decision-making and the challenges of transitioning to higher education. This process culminated in a final exchange of key insights and actionable takeaways among all participants.
The insights collected from these discussions strongly resonated with the core findings of Result 4, underscoring the critical need for more transparent and clear information for students and families, collaborative partnerships between schools and higher education institutions and pre-university preparation programs. The varied cultural, educational, and professional backgrounds of the participants significantly enriched these discussions, reinforcing the role of intersectoral communication in addressing student transition challenges and highlighting shared best practices across diverse contexts.
Join our final online Multiplier Event - 11 April 2025
START will organize a joint multiplier event on 11th April in order to disseminate its results among university authorities (Rectors, Vice-rectors, Deans, Academic Coordinators of Faculties and Degrees, etc.) and faculty developers in order to let other institutions benefit from the outcomes of the project.
Every START partner will co-organize and co-facilitate in this joint multiplier event so that all attendees will have the opportunity to share their experience on the challenges their students must face and learn about the findings and the resources achieved in the project.
We will be pleased to have you here.
Click here to register and receive the Zoom link.
START Handbook available online
How can I help my first-year students engage, persist & succeed?
The START team has prepared a collection of strategies and activities to help those teaching first-year guide students during the transition period.
The handbook presents 8 main topics with 17 leading questions identified through focus groups conducted by the START university partners. We interviewed 65 first-year students, 89 first-year university teachers and 27 faculty developers.
You can explore the handbook by going through the main topics or consulting the resources. We hope you will find it useful.
Result 4 available online
How can actors of pre-higher education sector be best informed about what is required to succeed in higher education? What information do school learners need in order to make informed choices about pursuing higher education (or not)? What information do school teachers, school councelors, parents, and others who can help school learners make better choices find useful? How and when and from whom do they want to receive such information?
What are higher education institutions already doing to try and support learners and all the other key actors of pre-higher education sector in this process? What further recommendations can the key actors involved in these first stages of transition give to higher education institutions?
The text you can download on this page gives some answers to these questions in the hope to stimulate further discussions, explorations, research and – most importantly
– better communication and cooperation between the two sectors – collaboration aimed at making sure higher education and secondary education sectors work together on helping young people make informed choices and – if these young people decide to pursue higher education studies – start their higher education studies better prepared, and not only in terms of the subject-knowledge, so to speak.
November 2024 – START Resources Presented in Bosnia and France
In November 2024, the START Handbook and Self-Assessment Tool were showcased during a series of workshops held in collaboration with two universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the University of Zenica and the University of East Sarajevo (Pale). These workshops gathered academics and university staff to explore strategies for supporting the transition of first-year students into higher education.
Participants engaged in discussions on how the START resources could address the challenges faced by diverse student populations during this critical transition phase. The sessions also highlighted the importance of university teachers in fostering inclusivity and student success.
Two weeks later, colleagues from these same Bosnian universities visited the University of Poitiers in France, continuing the collaboration and exchange of ideas. During their visit, the START resources were presented once again, offering a broader perspective on their potential applications in different educational contexts.
These presentations were conducted by members of the University of Poitiers START team, reinforcing the university’s commitment to promoting inclusive education practices.
October 2024
From October 23-25, 2024, University College Dublin hosted an impactful Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity as part of the Erasmus+ START project, titled “Becoming the Higher Education Teacher Who Can Support Student Transition“. The program included an Open Session where UCD faculty, staff, and students engaged with resources focused on easing the transition for first-year students entering university. Central to this session was the exploration of four Core Categories of Challenges faced by new students, grounded in international research conducted with partners from France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain. These categories, presented through interactive icons and visual aids, invited attendees to reflect on how these insights corresponded with their own teaching experiences, enhancing their awareness of diverse student needs.
In addition, attendees previewed the forthcoming START Handbook, a comprehensive resource currently under development. The Handbook promises practical strategies, evidence-based insights, and best practices tailored for educators who support first-year students. This preview highlighted the START project’s commitment to data-driven support, offering UCD faculty and staff a valuable foundation for creating an inclusive and supportive experience for first-year students.
A pivotal resource introduced during the session was the “How Good Am I at Supporting Student Transition” self-assessment tool, tailored for educators aiming to strengthen their support for student transitions. The tool offers two reflective pathways:
- Path 1 emphasises impactful actions that address a wide range of student challenges, prompting educators to assess and enhance the inclusivity of their current teaching approaches.
- Path 2 begins by identifying specific challenges educators observe, allowing them to choose those most relevant to their context and assess their teaching’s alignment with best practices identified in international research.
The self-assessment tool draws from focus group insights gathered across Europe, reflecting the perspectives of students, academics, and support staff. Designed to foster inclusive and effective teaching, the tool also serves as a resource for academic developers and institutional leaders, guiding professional development planning and encouraging incentive programs that recognize the vital role educators play in supporting first-year students.
By engaging with these resources, UCD and its partner institutions reinforce their commitment to widening access, enhancing inclusivity, and enriching the university transition experience for all students.
September 2024 - START resources shared with academics, university authorities and national higher education authorities from Paraguay
In September 2024, START Awareness Raising Toolkit (EN & ES) & Self-Assessment Tool (EN & ES) were presented to a group of academics and university authorities from six higher education institutions from Paraguay, as well as to representatives of the Paraguayan Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC), National Higher Education Council (CONES), & National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (ANEAES) in the framework of the MODESPAR Erasmus+ project (https://www.modespar.com.py/).
The 40+ workshop participants were invited to explore and discuss the challenges first-year students may encounter when transitioning to higher education, in order to compare these with the situation in Paraguay. They also analysed the START competence profile of a university teacher capable of supporting diverse students in transition to higher education with the aim of identifying elements relevant for the ’21st-century Paraguayan university teacher capable of becoming a protagonist of the desired modernisation of higher education’ (the central element of the Modespar project line 3).
The workshop was conducted by UPM & UG START participants in Porto, Portugal, on 12 September 2024 (thanks to the UPM & the UG being members of the Modespar consortium as well).
UNIVERSITARIUM – START-based initiative, launched by EDIW in 2023 & continued in June & September 2024
Universitarium, an initiative part of the project START and developed by EDIW, is a model designed to assist first-year college students by enhancing their competencies, awareness, and attitudes as they transition into university life. The exercise launched in 2023 was a 2.30-hour session and the beneficiaries counted more than 400 students in its 4 events.
For the 2024 edition, feedback from previous participants, new project research, and insights from a design thinking session held on June 26th were incorporated. This session, involving university students and recent graduates, aimed to generate reflections and ideas on improving the model’s impact on students adjusting to their new academic environment.
In September 2024, Universitarium was conducted at two student residences in Spain: Colegio Mayor Padre Poveda in Madrid and Colegio Mayor Maria Molina in Valladolid. These sessions served around 50 first-year university students and addressed key elements of the transition process, including: (I) The skills gap between school and university; (II) The relevance of time, speed of learning and motivation at the entry point; (III) Anticipation and awareness of specific challenges in transition; (IV) Self-awareness and recognition of possible personal attitudes to challenges; (V) Development of key competences for academic and personal success – time management, stress management, and decision making, among others. As in the previous year, the START project, its goals and some of its results were also presented during these sessions.
START Self-Assessment Tool Available Online
You can now explore the START Self-Assessment Tool we have created to help those teaching first-year undergraduate students find answers to the questions of “How good am I at supporting student transition?” and “What can I focus on to become even better?”
START Self-Assessment Tool offers two paths your can follow on this reflective self-assessment journey.
- Path 1 focuses on actions that can have impact on the highest number of challenges students might be experiencing
- Path 2 starts from the challenges and asks you to first think of those that might be most relevant for their context – you select the challenge and then reflect on how much your current approach to teaching is in line with what our respondents said best first-year teachers can do.
Whichever path you choose, we hope that this reflection – and the actions you will engage in as a result – will help you become even better in supporting students in transition to higher education. You can also follow one path after the other or come back as many times as you want to.
START Self-Assessment Tool is also meant to:
(1) guide faculty developers in their efforts to create professional development activities tailored for the needs to those teaching first-year students, and
(2) guide efforts of higher education institutions to incentivise and reward excellence in supporting student transition in core curriculum activities.
The START Self-Assessment Tool is available in English, Spanish, French, and Slovenian.
Explore. Engage. Share. Let those who teach first-year students know. Let those responsible for CPD planning and for rewarding excellence at your higher education institution know. Discuss ideas you find in the START Self-Assessment Tool with colleagues at your institution. And see which of the practices that help students in transition you can try out next semester, next month or even next week!
May 2024 - webinars to share the START Self-Assessment Tool and the 1st version of the START Handbook
Four multiplier events were organised by the project in the month of May – one by the UPM (in Spanish), one by the UL (in Slovenian) and one by UCD & UG, each (in English). The aim was to share the “How good am I at supporting student transition?” self-assessment tool (Result 3) and the first version of the “How can I help my first-year students engage, persist & succeed?” Handbook (Result 2).
The two resources were introduced to:
1) those teaching 1st-year undergraduate students,
2) those in charge of undergraduate programmes,
3) those involved in faculty development at higher education level; and
4) those who are responsible for promoting and rewarding inclusive excellence in higher education teaching
127 persons joined these dissemination events, out of which 105 from institutions outside the consortium. They came from 45+ higher education institutions – apart from those already working on the START activities – from 24 different countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales.
It is hoped that some of them will work with the START partners throughout 2024-2025 academic year to disseminate the two tools further within their institutions, countries and networks.
April 2024 - Continuing Relevance of the START project
2024 State of Education report prepared by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education highlights that drop-out levels remain a concern and that – even when progamme and student population characteristics are controlled for – there still remain ‘inexplicable’ differences across higher education institutions. Some groups of students (e.g. male, older, first-generation) are still more likely to not be able to remain in higher education beyond their first year. Yet, between 1/4 and 1/3 of those who drop out are found pursuing the same or a different higher education programme again within two years.
A likely implication here is that higher drop-out rates are linked to (1) how well (or not) students are supported in their transition to higher education, (2) how first-year courses are designed and taught, and – speaking from the START project perspective – how much support academics teaching first-year students receive from their institutions in terms of learning to support diverse first-year students better.
Dutch national authorities strongly recommend HEIs to identify causes for the undesired dropout, find out how students can be better supported in their transition to higher education and their progression towards successful graduation & put in place ‘preventive and reactive’ measures to decrease drop-out figures (see p. 51 & 61 of the State of Education report & p. 3 of 4 Sector specific overview for Higher Education; both documents available here; for a similar debate in Ireland, check Higher Education Authority 2024 Student Progression Data).
March 2024
From the 20th to the 22nd of March 2024 the START team came together in Poitiers, France, for the LTTA4 meeting. 25 colleagues from 6 institutions from 11 different disciplines gathered to work simultaneously in three results: 1) A handbook to help teachers implement activities to sustain students that go through the transition period from school to higher education; 2) A self-assessment tool for teachers to allow them to identify their areas of strength & future development in terms of accompanying first-year students through the transition; 3) A message to help bridge the intersectoral communication gap between secondary and higher education. Colleagues from the University of Poitiers not involved in the project before also joined this peer-learning event, sharing their own experience and ideas about how project results can be further improved.
By transcending cultural and disciplinary boundaries we have moved forward to create useful educational outcomes. It has been an enriching journey!
February 2024 - Participation in the AEOP Conference
START members of UPM participated on February 22nd and 23rd in the AEOP Conference (Congreso Internacional de Orientación a lo largo de la vida – International Conference on Lifelong Guidance).
A communication was presented exploring the competences those teaching first-year courses at a technical university need to guide students in their transition from Secondary to Higher Education:
- Higher Education faculty’s key characteristics that help first-year students in STEM disciplines. (Características clave del profesorado universitario que apoya a estudiantes de primer curso del ámbito científico-tecnológico).
The communication explored the focus groups organized at UPM in October 2023 with participants from three different groups: students, faculty and faculty developers. Thus, offering different perspectives on the necessary or desirable teaching competences for students’ transition.
January 2024
Central to producing START Result 4 is a deep understanding of the journey that secondary school students embark upon as they transition to higher education and identifying the most effective ways to support them. This journey is categorised into two main (not necessarily consecutive) stages:
I. Choice of Higher Education Programme: This stage focuses on guiding students in secondary school to select the most appropriate programme of studies and higher education institution, aligning with their aspirations and abilities. In START we have looked into the secondary school teachers’ strategies to assist students during this crucial decision-making phase.
Within this first stage, EDIW has been working on a study called “Guiding Futures” that aims to explore and understand the methods and practices employed by post-primary teachers in guiding students through the process of selecting higher education programmes and institutions for tertiary education. This study is being conducted through focus group sessions organised in January 2024 with school staff who work with students’ career orientation from France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
II. Knowledge about Higher Education: This stage deals with how students are supported as they adjust – or prepare to adjust to this new stage in their lives, including managing expectations, and learning to navigate the systems and resources they will encounter in their new academic setting.
In terms of this second element, EDIW carried out in September 2023, in Madrid y Valladolid, four events called: ‘University Preparation Day – the university universe at your fingertips in the first year’. Focused on how to be better prepared for the start of university, the events totalised around 450 first-year students. They counted on the support of staff from the University of Poitiers and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, as well as from second and third-year university students.
December 2023
From September to December 2023, the START team at the University of Poitiers organised a series of tests of the START Awareness Raising toolkit. The main goal was to evaluate the perceived utility of the toolkit from the perspective of the first-year university teachers during the first months of the academic year. 6 teachers from the University of Poitiers and 2 from the University of Lyon 2 used the resources and implemented the activities proposed in the toolkit following the same protocol.
The picture on the left is the result of an activity where students were asked to visually represent their main challenges faced as a first-year student. The image shows the difficulty of attending and participating in bigger settings like auditoriums.
In February, teachers will participate in a collective interview to share their opinions about the toolkit resources. The last stage will be data analysis. We will let you know the results soon.
November 2023
On November 13th, the START team in UPM organized an event to present the results of a survey we conducted to assess the expectations of newcomers in the School of Telecommunications.
352 students, starting 3 different degrees (Telecommunication Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Data Science Engineering), answered a total of 66 questions regarding:
- Their pre-university phase.
- Their election of course and University.
- Their self-efficacy and autonomy.
- Their expectations.
- Their motivation.
As the main conclusion extracted from this study, we observed that newcomers start University with high expectations and a very positive perception of themselves… or, at least, so they say.
The session was attended by 45 lecturers, who participated in a stimulating debate about the presented results and their impact on the role they have to play to support the transition to higher education.
Finally, the attendees completed a survey on their own experiences regarding the barriers they observe in first-year students and the challenges they have to face to help overcoming them.
October 2023
Following the presentation of our START Toolkit, teachers from the University of Poitiers were invited to adopt the resources and use them with their students.
Teachers from the Faculty of Letters and Languages and the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, accompanied by members of the START Poitiers team, set up activities using different resources.
With language groups, integrated as an oral expression activity, project presentation sessions and challenges were led. The interactive mind map (Section 1 of the Toolkit) was used to facilitate discovery of the project and the areas of challenge identified. In small groups, students were invited to express their experiences in relation to these challenges. These exchanges then gave rise to discussions on their different experiences and the elements that facilitate/hinder their integration into the first year of undergraduate studies. The activity thus enabled students to speak out and position themselves in relation to the challenges in a personal way, and to realize that the problem is common to other students, and initiatives to support them are being put in place.
In the Faculty of Law and Economics, a teacher brought together student tutors and first-year students from the Economic and Social Administration degree program for a half-day “breaking the barriers” activity (Section 3 of the Toolkit). The students took part in an activity in which, in small groups, they used different objects to represent their main challenges in their first semester at university, as well as the people, activities and resources they felt would help them make the transition.
The START team gave a short talk on the project, followed by a presentation by each small group, to share the results of their exchanges with the whole group. Using photos and short dramatizations, they expressed their difficulties, their pleasures and what entering university meant to them.
These activities and testimonials confirm that the transition from secondary school to higher education is indeed a subject that matters to our students, and they are a source of motivation for us to keep on working on our project!
September 2023 - Participation in CIOU2023
START members of UPM participated from September 6th to 8th in the CIOU 2023 Conference (III Congreso Internacional de Orientación Universitaria – III International Conference on Guidance in Higher Education). Two communications were presented:
- Raising awareness among academics teaching first-year to Support students’ transition to Higher Education. (Concienciar al profesorado de los primeros cursos universitarios como apoyo para facilitar la transición del alumnado a la Educación Superior).
- 30 methodological strategies to enhance communication among university students. An exploratory study to support academics teaching first-year in STEM degrees. (30 estrategias metodológicas para mejorar la competencia de comunicación de los estudiantes universitarios. Un estudio exploratorio para apoyar a los docentes de primer curso de enseñanzas científico-tecnológicas).
Additionally, START members from UPM and UP, as well as UPM students, participated in an expert panel organized by CIOU, were students’ transition to Higher Education and the role teachers play in it, was discussed.
On a second line of activities, UPM START members teaching first-year presented results from the surveys collected from UPM to freshmen. Two main challenges were highlighted: higher academic demands and autonomous learning; together with the solutions students found to solve them: increasing their investment in time and effort, using lecturers’ office hours and asking senior students for help and guidance.
June 2023 - Awareness Raising Toolkit Ready!
You can now explore the Awareness Raising Toolkit we have created as a response to the question of: “Why do those teaching first-year students have a special role to play?“
Engaging with (some elements of) this Toolkit, can help academics who teach first-year undergraduate students become:
(1) aware of their special role in making HE inclusive and accessible, also in their own context
(2) motivated to learn to support diverse students better in their transition to higher education.
The Toolkit also includes a section for faculty developers – those who might want ready-to-use/adapt resources to make others who teach first-year students more aware of their special role.
The toolkit is available in English, Spanish, French, and Slovenian.
Explore. Engage. Share. Let those who teach first-year students know. Discuss ideas you find in the Toolkit with colleagues at your institution. And see how this applies or what this means to you, your context and your students!
May 2023
Six multiplier events were organised by the project in the month of May.
Five of them focused on the “Why do those teaching first-year students have a special role to play?” Awareness Raising toolkit (Result 1), presenting it to academics and others who work on supporting diverse students in their transition to higher education.
One of the events targeted French-speaking participants, one Slovenian-speaking participants, the third one – Spanish-speaking participants and two more – English-speaking participants from different EHEA institutions. To reach an even broader audience, an additional session for French-speaking participants will be organised at the end of June 2023. Over 80 participants from outside the consortium attended the webinars linked to Result 1 held in May. They came from ten countries and represented over 30 different higher education institutions.
The sixth multiplier event focused on “Bridging the inter-sectoral communication gap” between higher education and pre-university sector. This was conducted in English and its two sessions brought together more than 20 participants from outside the START project consortium. These two sessions were in themselves an example of how the communication gap can be bridged, as they engaged in discussions participants of very diverse profiles: students, those preparing students to go to higher education and higher education actors (teachers, tutors, students, etc.).
In terms of the geographical scope, attendants across the six multiplier events came from the following countries: Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.
All the events also attracted participants from within the consortium, highlighting the relevance of the project both to the institutions involved, and to the ‘wider world’ of all those striving to make higher education truly inclusive.
APRIL 2023
Dates for the end-of-year 1 Multiplier Events have been set. 6 webinars will be organised in May 2023 in order to share first project results with a wider audience:
– five to let academics teaching first-year students, faculty/educational/staff developers and university authorities know that the START project has created an Awareness Raising Toolkit for those teaching first-year undergraduate students and those who support academics teaching first-year students;
– one 2-part webinar will also support dissemination of work started in relation to the “Bridging the inter-sectoral communication gap” collection of good practices for bridging the communication gap between higher education and pre-university education sectors
To learn more about these free webinars and sign up, visit the Dissemination Events page.
March 2023
During the online meeting held in February it was decided that the partners would receive a Questionnaire in which they had to answer the questions with the objective of collecting examples of good practices in communication with pre-university actors. These actors vary from future students to those teaching/working with pre-university students, etc. The final goal of this activity is to gather all the good practices the partners have in this matter, share them with the rest of the group, and collect the most representative and revolutionary in order to present them in the Multiplier Event to be held in May.
This Questionnaire was to be sent before the 17th of March, as this was the day in which the group agreed to meet again in order to discuss the good practices and make the assessment of which were the ones selected to be presented in the Multiplier Event. Learning from each other’s practices is very relevant for the project because it helps build the big picture in which third level institutions find themselves in terms of communication with pre-university actors. It is the perfect way to understand the situation and decide which aspects need to be improved, which need to be reinforced and which need to be supported.
The online group meeting was a success. In it, the group members decided on the final structure of the Multiplier Event to be held in May. It will be divided into two different online sessions to take place on two different days of the same week. Each session will be focused on different aspects of the topic of inter-sectoral communication gap to achieve inclusive excellence in Higher Education.
Session 1 (“Analysis of the current system: a critical examination”) will be held on Tuesday 16th of May, it is directed to universities, university students, secondary school teachers and counselors and aims to collect information about what the public considers to be lacking in the current system. Session 2 (“University good practices: which and how”) will take place on Friday the 19th of May, it is directed to universities and it aims to gather the different initiatives undertaken by universities in order to have a clear image of the current system and share good practices.
Furthermore, this online meeting served the group to gather together numerous initiatives taken by the universities they represent on the matter relevant to the project, to draft an invitation for the event, to discuss the main aspects of the organization of the D-day (the days in which the Multiplier Event will take place), and to finish the flyer – which can be seen together with this text.
Finally, it was agreed by the group that three additional meetings were to be scheduled in May, each of them with the objective of ending the organization of each of the three days of the Multiplier Event. The members of the group were still in contact during the rest of the month via email, where different doubts were discussed.
February 2023
Participating in START made me remember my feelings from the first year of study at university. I didn’t feel that anybody cared. With START we would like to show to nowadays students that we do care.
Barbara Modec
As a teacher of first- and third-year students, I soon realized a great difference between them. Since the beginning of my career, I have tried to help students in the transition to the university, but working in the START project has given me a deeper understanding of students’ problems, which has improved my communication with them. The problems of first-year teachers/students have been neglected by most of my colleagues who never meet first-year students. The results of the START project should convince them that teachers can play an important role in the transition from secondary school to university.
Saša Petriček
The first year of college can be a bit overwhelming, as it represents a major life change for most people. First-year students can suffer from homesickness, financial problems, social isolation, extremely poor time management, unmotivated members of group projects, and so on. Since I have been participating in the START project, I became familiar with the different backgrounds of students and the problems they face that can lead to dropping out. Therefore, it is important to address these types of problems by providing them with full support. It is especially important to clarify expectations for student learning and performance, for example, by explaining what is expected of them through descriptions, examples, and feedback on their work. Feedback should not only be critical, but also supportive and encouraging, which could help students adapt more quickly to the new environment.
Taja Klemen
I became interested in the project START, because I teach first-year students and tutor these students. I know that the transition from secondary school to university is an important turning point for them, and I think it is very important that we make this transition as easy as possible for them and not, perhaps out of negligence or ignorance, make it unnecessarily difficult. I thought I knew something about the difficulties that some first-year students have, but in my first focus group interview with students as part of the START project, I quickly realised that things that I take for granted are completely incomprehensible, hidden, and illogical from their perspective. I have therefore already adjusted the way I present the information and hope that the results of the project will convince as many as possible of those who teach first-year students that they can make a big difference by making small adjustments to help their students integrate successfully into university life and study.
Anton Meden
The transition from high school to university is a turning point for many young people, associated with various professional and personal challenges. In the START project, we strive to better understand the challenges that young people face and to develop a supportive environment that will best support young people in their transition to university.
Vesna Ferk Savec
The contemporary social and family circumstances of children growing up are changing rapidly and, together with school, are influencing the “otherness” – and our ignorance – of the knowledge, skills, and personal preferences with which young people enter university. Do we know them and do we take them seriously? In the START project, systematically learning about these changed assumptions will – I hope – enable us to remove unnecessary barriers to students’ successful entry and ensure the quality of their studies.
Janez Krek
Images: INFORMATION DAYS, UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
In February 2023, information days were held at the University of Ljubljana where faculties informed secondary school students about the study programmes, they were interested in applying to. Prospective students were able to obtain information about studies and study programmes, and meet representatives of the faculties and academies, as well as upper-year students.
January 2023
On 16 January 2023 we were hosted by our Spanish colleagues at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for our second START Transnational Project Meeting. Having spent the interim weeks working collaboratively online to give shape and direction to each of the five strands of the ‘Awareness Raising Toolkit’, this was a much-needed opportunity for wider collaboration and critical feedback.
The experience of first year undergraduate students and their teachers is not generic across European third level institutions. There are significant systemic and disciplinary differences in relation to post-primary education and student transition, as well as cultural and linguistic nuances in relation to the wider purpose, and particular practice, of education. While the literature review had already given us a broad foundation for the issues facing first year students and their university teachers, it was through dialogue with our project partners that we were able to fully explore this rich and diverse landscape.
As we worked our way through each of the components of the ‘Awareness Raising Toolkit’ we found common ground amid this diversity, and we were able to consider the benefits as well as the challenges difference brings when considering our project aims to support European university teachers of first year students.
This clarity proved incredibly productive, and we had a busy three days of presentations, critical dialogue, activities and working groups. Our host university, UPM, offered an open session to begin raising awareness of our project with their staff and to hear their experiences of teaching first year students, which gave us the opportunity to share our findings and further reflect on our toolkit.
That so much can be achieved in such a short space of time is a credit to the drive, creativity and commitment of the project participants. The online toolkit is in its final stages, and we are all looking forward to seeing it on our START website soon.
December 2022
Continuing with
the START project and looking forward to the transnational meeting planned for
January 2023 in Madrid (Spain), the team has been working on different topics
and tasks. The focus is on the first result of the project, namely, the
creation of an “Awareness Raising
Toolkit”. This toolkit aims to help academics understand why students find
transition to higher education challenging and why those teaching first-year
students have a special role to play.
For this, five
groups have been working on different aspects:
1.- Galaxies of
challenges: aiming to develop tools that help to raise awareness of students’
challenges among academics teaching first-year students.
2.- Seriousness
of challenges: making academics aware of the seriousness of these challenges.
3.- Awareness of
THEIR students: focusing on academics’ own students and their specific
challenges.
4.- Faculty
developers: creating tools that help faculty developers design teaching actions
and materials to help academics guide their students’ transition.
5.- Academics
CAN: develop specific messages about academics’ capacity in this subject
directed to faculty with different responsibilities in course teaching, course
design, studies program design or to academic authorities.
The meeting in
Madrid will give us the opportunity to share our results, find synergies and to
discuss some of the working groups’ results with first-year students’ teachers at UPM in an open session.
This way, the
next steps for the START project will be established!
November 2022
In the first stage of the project START, the team consulted several sources (research articles, national statistics reports and interviews, among others) to identify the main challenges students face during their first year in the HEI and the impact teachers can have guiding them during the transition. More than 200 quotes from the research literature were analysed to draft the nature of the 4 major challenges students face: academic engagement, university culture, personal and social. Currently, the team is working on the delimitation of each one of them and the interconnection of these categories.
The information collected also reported how academics can positively contribute to students’ transition. They can:
- support the transition through providing explicit rules, creating a supportive environment, giving timely feedback, etc.
- create a sense of belonging, promote resilience and engagement, build community, help navigate “unspoken” rules.
- strongly influence students having direct contact with them, meaningful interactions, positive relationships, structured contact out of the class.
These results will be the framework of the results coming up on the START project.
Having presented our first literature review findings to first-year students’ teachers in Groningen has greatly encouraged the team on the importance of working on this topic.
October 2022
“What Challenges do Students Experience When Transitioning to Higher Education & Why does it Matter?” Learning, Teaching and Training Activity (LTTA1) took place on 25-27 October in Groningen, the Netherlands. Core Working Groups from all START partner institutions met for an intensive 3-day peer-learning activity with the following intended learning outcomes:
1. Articulate challenges students experience when transitioning to HE, comparing local and global research findings with their own experience
2. Identify ways in which academics teaching first-year students can have a positive impact on student transition
3. Encourage academics teaching first-year students in accepting, as part of their professional role, the task of supporting students in their transition to higher education
Professional development sessions organised on October 27th and open to all those working with first-year students at the University of Groningen brought together over 50 participants.
Transnational Meeting 2 (F2F) on October 28th allowed to evaluate this first LTTA1 and plan for next steps.
September 2022
20 September 2022 – Transnational Meeting 1 (online) to discuss the progress towards Result 1 and the draft agenda and preparation necessary for LTTA1.
August 2022
All START Partners start working on the Awareness Raising Toolkit. The first step is to review research publications and existing resources that give evidence-based answers
to the following three questions:
• WHY is transition to higher education (HE) a challenging experience? What challenges do diverse students face?
• WHY does this matter? Why not supporting students in their transition to HE has serious consequences?
• WHY should Academics care? What evidence do we have to say that those teaching first-year students have a strong impact on student transition and can really make a difference?
July 2022
4 July, 2022 – START Partners met online for the synchronous part of the Kick-Off Meeting. The first academic tasks were discussed, and the Communication and Dissemination Work Group established. It was a good opportunity to start getting to know each other and get inspiration for the first academic and dissemination actions.
June 2022
5 June 2022 – Introductory Kick-Off videos shared for the Core Working Groups to watch in preparation for the synchronous session. First (video) introductions shared via a Padlet wall.
