Students’ transition from school to university: Possibilities for a pre-university intervention

Abstract

A successful transition from school to university is crucial to academic success – especially in the first academic year. Various studies have, however, shown that students are increasingly underprepared for higher education studies. Not only is the schooluniversity gap increased by the school system that produces inadequately prepared learners for higher education, but universities are also ill-equipped to accommodate these learners – particularly learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this article it is argued that universities have a responsibility to facilitate the school-university transition and should actively get involved in schools at an early stage. The research reported in this article aimed at developing a framework for a holistic and integrated pre-university intervention. In this sense it is foreseen that universities might play an increasingly important role at school level to prepare prospective students more effectively for university studies and thus facilitate a smoother transition from school to university.