"Stop inducting students into a system that doesn't fit them."

Students sitting round a table at a welcome event

The Office for Students (OfS) Equality of Opportunity Innovation-funded National Pre-arrival Academic Questionnaire (PAQ) project is a collaborative initiative led by Advance HE, Jisc and the University of East London. Its purpose is to provide institutions with robust evidence about students' prior learning experiences, expectations, motivations, concerns and Stop inducting students into a system that doesn't fit them." anticipated challenges before they begin their studies. By capturing these insights at the point of entry, the project aims to help institutions design more targeted academic and pastoral support, strengthen transition into higher education, and build a national evidence base to inform both institutional practice and sector policy.

As the first wave of data has been analysed, a number of important themes have emerged about how students experience the transition into higher education and where existing approaches to induction may no longer meet their needs. Working with my colleagues, Professor Wendy Garnham and Professor Sue Beckingham, we have been exploring these findings and what they mean for the future of student transition and success. Our analysis highlights a growing disconnect between the assumptions that underpin many institutional induction practices and the increasingly diverse experiences, expectations and educational backgrounds of today's students.

These insights provided the foundation for a blog that I was delighted to publish with HEPI over the weekend, "Stop inducting students into a system that doesn't fit them." The blog draws directly on the emerging evidence from the National PAQ project to argue that transition should no longer be viewed as a one-off induction process designed to help students adapt to existing institutional systems. Instead, it should be understood as a personalised, evidence-informed and ongoing journey that begins before students arrive, enabling institutions to adapt their practices in response to who their students are and what they need to succeed.

I hope the blog contributes to an important sector-wide conversation about reimagining induction and transition through the lens of evidence, partnership and student-centred design.