Challenges Faced by Students in Universities

This report discusses the challenges faced by students in universities and provides recommendations to minimize them. Topics include time management, choosing a major, work-life balance, finances, and academic difficulties.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

ABSTRACT
Students in colleges while learning their subjects face various difficulties in managing their
time, studies, work life balance etc. which create stress among them and affect their health and
studies. Their career depends on the subject they have chosen and their ability to understand the
subject which can make them both personally and professionally successful. In this report such
challenges are identified and also recommendations are given to minimise them.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
ASSIGNMENT 2.............................................................................................................................5
Q1) Challenges faced by students in universities...................................................................5
Q2) Recommendations...........................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Students while getting education in colleges or universities face various challenges that
make it difficult for them to manage their learning and their life balance which can often affect
their grades and also can cause stress and tension among them. It is important that these
challenges are identified on time so that they can be given effective guidance that can help them
in dealing with the issues in an efficient manner (Dika and D'Amico, 2016). This also helps in
improving the reputation of university among students and enhances their learning thereby
making efficient students with great employability skills. This report discusses about the main
challenges which are faced by students along with some recommendations on how they can be
dealt with efficiently.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Challenges faced by students
According to the views of Felicia Nazareth, 2018, college students face enormous
challenges while pursuing their courses which teach them how to learn from their experiences
making them better people and also help them in dealing with difficult life situations. Students
are however inexperienced and the challenges can lead them to stress and anxiety affecting their
mental and physical well being. It is important that the parents, mentors and teachers of students
are aware about the difficulties faced by student so that proper guidance can be given to them
which can help them in effectively dealing with challenges and their learning process can be
made efficient. It will also help in increasing their understanding level so that they can easily
grab whatever is taught to them thereby helping them grow both personally and professionally.
Healthy competition in classroom can help the students in dealing with learning issues more
efficiently. It is also important that the teaching is well scheduled so that students are not over
burdened by lectures ad also they can create a student life balance which is essential for their
overall health (Kot, Castleden and Gagnon, 2017).
Difficulties faced by students in colleges
As per the views of Garfield Gates, 2020, the most common problems which are faced by
college students are related with time management, inability to understand academic lectures,
choosing their major subjects in which they want to build their career etc. These challenges can
create tensions among students and they find it difficult to take out sufficient time for their

studies and for their own life resulting in their increased stress and tensions. Students might also
find it difficult to arrange for the required amount of money so that they can study their desired
subject in their desired university which also affect them and lead to demoralising them. All
these are the common challenges which are generally faced by students during learning their
courses in universities which can cause negative impact on their health (Epstein, 2018).
ASSIGNMENT 2
Q1) Challenges faced by students in universities
While starting their courses of learning in a university the students often face various
challenges which can affect their student life balance and can also burden them with time
management so that they can manage both their learning and commitment to their families.
These issues can cause stress and tensions among students impacting their studies and also their
health. It is therefore important that the teachers, parents or mentors of students can identify the
difficulties which are faced by student so that effective measures can be taken in order to help
students in dealing with these challenges so that their learning can be improved and they can
pursue their desired careers thus becoming successful in their lives. Following are certain
common challenges that are faced by college students:
Time management: While studying in colleges the most common challenge which is faced
by a student is managing time so that all the subjects in their respective courses can be covered
and they can be allotted with sufficient amount of time so that good marks can be scored in
exams. Also as the students also have to manage their studies along with work and family they
find it difficult to manage their time so that they can create an efficient balance in their work life
thereby becoming successful in all these areas (Volkmar, Jackson and Hart, 2017).
Choosing a major: The major subject chosen by student decides their career path and the
direction in which they will go so that they can become successful in their lives and can make
their career in the subject that they want. It is important that the major subject is chosen by
student rationally and after evaluating all the possibilities so that they can become highly
employable and can pursue their career in desired subject. Choosing a major subject is a difficult
task as the complete future life of students depends on the subject they have chosen and also
direct their career in the direction of their choice of subjects (Boggs and McPhail, 2016).

Work-life balance: It becomes difficult for students who work after college to manage their
studies, work and life balance affecting their mental and physical health and causing stress and
tensions among them. This is a challenge which deprives students of their personal life leading
them to demoralisation and also affects their studies. This also affects their power to concentrate
in class so that they can efficiently understand their studies in order to excel in their exams
(Cresap, 2017).
Finances: Availability of sufficient finances also pose threat to the students which affect
their studies and their ability to choose desired college and pursue their desired subject so that
they can get a degree in their desired course. Tuition costs are also rising at alarming rates which
increases the cost of studies and can also lead to huge debts for the students which they take in
order to pursue their desired course. The loans taken by students increase the burden of finances
on them and further increase to their distress leading to increase in drop outs from colleges
(Hynes, 2016).
Academic difficulties: Ability of understanding the lessons which are being taught in class is
also a major challenge which is faced by students in universities which affect their ability of
scoring good marks in exams. Sometimes students find it difficult to solve the problems which
are given to them because they are unable to understand the concepts being taught to them. This
makes their analysing and interpreting power weak thereby affecting their employability as with
weak interpretation skills they are unfit for solving issues which are being faced in companies
(Owens, 2018).
Q2) Recommendations
From the above evaluation it can be said that students in universities face various problems
during their studies in universities affecting their academic performance which also affect their
ability to get employed in renowned or desired organisations. It is important that the challenges
faced by students are identified at early stages so that appropriate measures can be taken in order
to deal with these challenges so that students can be positively motivated to study. Also their
work, studies and life can be well balanced making them successful and happy. Following are
some recommendations which need to be followed by students so that they can overcome the
challenges faced by them:

1. Students can make time table so that they can effectively schedule their time and allocate
their work as per time. This will help them in allocating appropriate time to each subject
so that each subject can be given sufficient time to study.
2. Bank loans can be taken by students from the banks that have lowest rate of interests so
that they do not get burdened by the lack of finances upon them (O’Neal and et. al.,
2016).
3. Students can consult their teachers and mentors so that the academic difficulties faced by
them can be minimised and they can understand the concepts in a better manner which
can improve their grades.
4. While choosing a major it is important that the student lay emphasis on the subjects
which interests them so that the subject chosen by them can be easily understood and
they can pursue their career option in their subject of interest (Bayazıt, 2017).
5. Proper counselling can also be done so that they can choose proper subjects, colleges for
higher studies and also their stress and tensions can be reduced which can help them in
using their efforts in achieving their goals.
6. The students need to do their homework regularly so that they can complete their
assignments on time which can help them in going along with class lectures and
understanding their lectures better.
7. Building a habit of taking class notes, revising the lectures, practising meditation can also
help the students in achieving better marks and can help them in preparing for success for
a long period of time.
8. While studying their courses in universities it is also important that the students help their
peer and discuss problems with them so that an effective learning can take place which
also help in developing students so that they can efficiently complete their learning.
CONCLUSION
From this report it can be concluded that while studying in universities students face various
challenges which can affect their graded and also the career options they choose. Thus it is
important that these challenges are identified which can help in taking effective measures so that
the challenges can be minimised and also enhance their learning making studies easier and
reducing stress among students.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dika, S.L. and D'Amico, M.M., 2016. Early experiences and integration in the persistence of
first‐generation college students in STEM and non‐STEM majors. Journal of Research
in Science Teaching, 53(3), pp.368-383.
Volkmar, F.R., Jackson, S.L. and Hart, L., 2017. Transition issues and challenges for youth with
autism spectrum disorders. Pediatric Annals, 46(6), pp.e219-e223.
Owens, R.E., 2018. Queer kids: The challenges and promise for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth.
Routledge.
O’Neal and et. al., 2016. Grit under duress: Stress, strengths, and academic success among non-
citizen and citizen Latina/o first-generation college students. Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences, 38(4), pp.446-466.
Boggs, G.R. and McPhail, C.J., 2016. Practical leadership in community colleges: Navigating
today's challenges. John Wiley & Sons.
Kot, M., Castleden, H. and Gagnon, G.A., 2017. Preparing for success–drinking water safety
plans and lessons learned from alberta: policy considerations contextualized for small
systems. In Water policy and governance in Canada (pp. 321-335). Springer, Cham.
Epstein, J.L., 2018. School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and
improving schools. Routledge.
Cresap, L., 2017. Preparing university students for flipped learning. In Blended Learning:
Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1510-1531). IGI Global.
Hynes, M.D. ed., 2016. Preparing for FDA Pre-Approval Inspections: A Guide to Regulatory
Success. CRC Press.
Bayazıt, Y., 2017. Anxiety of Students Preparing for the University Entrance Exam towards
Math Lessons. Педагогика, 89(5), pp.650-664.
Online
Felicia Nazareth .2018. Challenges faced by students [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.alignthoughts.com/what-are-the-challenges-you-face-as-a-student-and-
how-to-overcome-them/>
Garfield Gates .2020. Difficulties faced by students in colleges [Online]. Available through
<https://owlcation.com/academia/common-problems-for-college-students>