For students commencing university study their first year can be a challenging and daunting experience. Selfefficacy, being the students’ own perception of themselves and their personal capabilities, is critical to a student’s ability to transition from high school to university (Bandura 1997; Bandura 1989). To address the need to improve students’ belief in their personal capabilities to transition successfully, a pre-university preparation (PUP) program was developed at an Australian university. This paper reports on the findings of the PUP experience, on students’ perceptions of the transition to university, and on the self-efficacy issues they identified. Students completed a survey at the commencement of the program and then provided qualitative feedback at the finish regarding how they anticipate the program will assist them in adjusting to university life. Data collected suggests that students who undertake this program have more realistic expectations of what university life will be like and feel better prepared to make the change from secondary school to the tertiary environment. We will argue that it is with a greater awareness of their capabilities supported by the PUP program that students will successfully transition to university.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	self-efficacy; pre-university program; first-year student experience; student expectations
Research Division:	Education
Research Group:	Education systems
Research Field:	Higher education
Objective Division:	Education and Training
Objective Group:	Learner and learning
Objective Field:	Learner and learning not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Delaney, D (Dr Deborah Delaney)
ID Code:	138290
Year Published:	2016
Deposited By:	Accounting
Deposited On:	2020-03-31
Last Modified:	2020-08-25
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