During the transition to university, early summative assessments may serve as powerful indicators of academic performance and perceived competence by students. How students learn in preparation for these assessments may be determinants of task-related experience and outcomes. The current study investigated the influences of learning strategies on…

The time students invest in their studies and their resulting achievement is partly dependent on curriculum characteristics. Degree programmes differ greatly with respect to how the curriculum is organized, for example in the type (e.g. lectures, practicals) and the number of classes. The focus of this study is on the relationships between…

Central in this study is the role of student variables and the fit between secondary education and university education in the explanation of first-year student achievement. The fit between two levels of education can be defined in different ways. In this study the focus is on four fit-aspects: appropriateness of expectations, and the degree to…

Higher education students interest in their subject has been found to clearly decrease during the first year of their studies in the Netherlands. This decrease is much smaller for students in the second year, and even turns into an increase in higher years. The loss of interest after enrolment in higher education has also been found in…