Balancing education and campus experience for the local student: Making Fresher’s Week Relevant to All Lorraine Gearing Coventry University European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Introduction O My interest in the ‘local’ / ‘day’ / ‘commuter’ student O Pose a series of questions O Try to provide some answers O Look at institutional changes European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

A New Student? O Age O International O Ethnicity O Disability O Gender O First generation HE learner O ….. O LOCAL European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Which University? O Course / programme O Reputation O Rankings O … O Convenience European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Have things changed? O Cost of degrees in England O Reluctance to add debt O School pressure to enter Higher Education O Nervous to leave home O Current situation O Relationships European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Expectations O New learning experience O Friendships O Clubs or societies O … O Purpose of Freshers’ week European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

What is Freshers’ Week anyway? European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Research Project O Begun with the concept of a “Freshers’ Week” in a post ‘92 university O Narrowed to local students who emerged as a specific group O Surveys on specific subjects that had a different demographic pattern O interviews with local pre-university and current students European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Findings O Terminology changes O Freshers’ O Induction O Welcome Week O Period changes O 1 week O 2 weeks O First term / semester European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Choice or Convenience O Current student interviews O To be honest I only really looked at THIS UNIVERSITY as I didn’t want to move far and it was a bit easier for me to get here than A or B O I’d already made the choice I wanted to stay local, so this is why I chose THIS UNIVERSITY O I chose it because it was local O I deliberately chose local universities, especially THIS ONE O I chose a local university because I didn’t want to move away from home. European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Choice or Convenience O Pre-university student interviews O cost of living is one thing that has worried me O Yes, they are all local. It’s important for me to travel there as I will be staying at home. I personally wanted to move out but my parents persuaded me to think of the cost and so then I thought I might as well stay at home, so I might as well save all that money anyway O It seemed like an easier choice to make O I personally don’t like change and it makes sense to stay here. Most of my friends are here O I want to live at home because it is easier for me European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Freshers’ Activities European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference O Questionnaire – 23 responses enrolled in a general IT course O 18 students considered themselves local (78%) O 14 students attended all/majority of freshers’ week activities (60%) O Questionnaire – 51 responses enrolled in a specialist Music Technology course O 26 students considered themselves local (51%) O 28 students attended all/majority of freshers’ week activities (55%) O 98% found the week useful, with a particular emphasis on O Registration O course related activities O Meeting tutors O Approached activities as a consumer O Made a choice between mandatory (eg registration) and optional (eg quiz) O Local students were less likely to engage with social activities and identified primarily with their course rather than with being a university student

How can universities engage the local/commuter student O Student / course analytics O Use the local student O Invite prospective students to a planning session O Have one social event that they can bring their friends to O Motivation drivers for local students to attend O Buddy up European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference

Final comments O Nothing has changed apart from doing a different course and paying a lot more money O It’s definitely easier to leave because we’ve got that financial security blanket. We don’t have to pay for our own house, our own utilities etc, so I think that you should target a day student more than an independent living student. European First Year Experience (EFYE) 2015 Conference