The first year of study in higher education is a time of major transition for students. While the importance of induction has been widely demonstrated, there is evidence to suggest that not all students benefit equally from participation in induction. This study examined attendance rates at induction, the relationship between induction attendance…

Decisions about progress through an academic programme are made by Boards of Examiners, on the basis of students' course assessments. For most students such pass/fail grading decisions are straightforward. However, for those students whose results are borderline (either at a pass/fail boundary or boundaries between grades) the exercise of some…

There is growing concern about the detrimental effect of term-time employment on university students' academic success. We report results from an online survey of 1837 students of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, whose responses were later matched to their academic records for a semester. The majority of employed students reported…

Following recent developments within higher education where provision of foundation degree courses at further education colleges has been extended, it seemed appropriate to investigate the extent to which the system is working. This should not necessarily be measured by the number of students enrolling, but rather by how many are achieving their…