FYE Themes

Conference Themes

The main theme of the conference is "Enhancing the transition to Higher Education: strategies and policies that work".

"Enhancing the transition to Higher Education: strategies and policies that work" the 2003 conference theme attempts to achieve several aims. First, it emphasises the need for improvement. Second, it reminds us that the First Year in Higher Education is an experience of transition to new ways of thinking, working and behaving. Third, strategies and policies that work, relates to the need to place our initiatives within an organisational and policy framework in order to achieve maximum impact. By realising this, we hope that the many good ideas that we have seen operationalised over the years may be consolidated into more enduring, more systematic and more far reaching mechanisms by which the experience of a first year in higher education can be enhanced.

Current Issues

Pressure on students to perform well in their final years in high school - and what this means when they finally reach university or a higher education institution
Adapting while under pressure
How our institutions meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds
Pressure on higher education institutions to teach more students with constrained resources
How well are we adjusting to the needs of our new tertiary and sub-tertiary students? How do we continue to help them in their new world when our academic and support staffs are pushed to do more with diminishing resources?
Are the current support systems meeting the needs and demands of our tertiary community - especially its newest entrants?
How will institutions adapt to changing policy and funding environments
Completion rates and student retention

Other Objectives for the conference

• Examine innovative programs, research findings and course designs/concepts that are helping students of increasing diversity become more successful learners
• Provide information on successful programs which are helping attract and retain students
• Examine issues related to academic substance and excellence
• Foster the development of institutional working partnerships among faculty, academic administrators and student personnel administrators.

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