Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania

University enabling programs develop students’ academic skills and understandings of the academic culture and environments, facilitating students’ transition into undergraduate courses. In addition to confirming these short-term benefits of enabling programs, this research explored the medium an...

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Main Authors: Crawford, Nicole, Johns, Susan, Jarvis, Lynn, Hawkins, Cherie, Harris, Mike, McCormack, David
Format: Conference Paper
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80711
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author Crawford, Nicole
Johns, Susan
Jarvis, Lynn
Hawkins, Cherie
Harris, Mike
McCormack, David
author_facet Crawford, Nicole
Johns, Susan
Jarvis, Lynn
Hawkins, Cherie
Harris, Mike
McCormack, David
author_sort Crawford, Nicole
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description University enabling programs develop students’ academic skills and understandings of the academic culture and environments, facilitating students’ transition into undergraduate courses. In addition to confirming these short-term benefits of enabling programs, this research explored the medium and longer-term impacts of the University of Tasmania’s University Preparation Program (UPP). Past cohorts of successful UPP students from 1996 to 2007, in north-west Tasmania, were targeted. The study used a mixed methods approach, with surveys (quantitative) and interviews (qualitative). The findings are described in terms of three interrelated layers: foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities. Developing academic skills and an understanding of the new culture led to students developing confidence, which empowered them to undertake undergraduate studies; this step, in turn, flowed on to further new opportunities, such as employment and leadership roles. This study illustrates that enabling programs are a transition strategy with multiple benefits, especially for students from under-represented backgrounds.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-807112021-01-15T01:38:03Z Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania Crawford, Nicole Johns, Susan Jarvis, Lynn Hawkins, Cherie Harris, Mike McCormack, David University enabling programs develop students’ academic skills and understandings of the academic culture and environments, facilitating students’ transition into undergraduate courses. In addition to confirming these short-term benefits of enabling programs, this research explored the medium and longer-term impacts of the University of Tasmania’s University Preparation Program (UPP). Past cohorts of successful UPP students from 1996 to 2007, in north-west Tasmania, were targeted. The study used a mixed methods approach, with surveys (quantitative) and interviews (qualitative). The findings are described in terms of three interrelated layers: foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities. Developing academic skills and an understanding of the new culture led to students developing confidence, which empowered them to undertake undergraduate studies; this step, in turn, flowed on to further new opportunities, such as employment and leadership roles. This study illustrates that enabling programs are a transition strategy with multiple benefits, especially for students from under-represented backgrounds. 2015 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80711 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle Crawford, Nicole
Johns, Susan
Jarvis, Lynn
Hawkins, Cherie
Harris, Mike
McCormack, David
Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title_full Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title_fullStr Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title_full_unstemmed Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title_short Foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west Tasmania
title_sort foundations for change, confidence, and new opportunities: impacts of a university enabling program in north-west tasmania
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80711