Challenges and Strategies in Higher Education: Study Skills Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by university students in higher education, drawing on a literature review of various research papers. The report identifies key challenges, including cognitive difficulties, the need to become an active learner, cultural and language barriers, and time management issues. The analysis categorizes these challenges and discusses their impact on student learning. Furthermore, the report offers specific recommendations for students, teachers, and university management to mitigate these challenges. These recommendations include providing students with a well-designed curriculum, fostering a zero-tolerance policy toward cultural bias, focusing on individual student needs, developing balanced schedules, and gradually increasing the complexity of learning materials. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of comprehensive support for students to ensure their success in higher education.

STUDY SKILLS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review........................................................................................................................3
Analysis and discussion...............................................................................................................4
Recommendations for overcoming the challenges thus arising..................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Higher education i.e. the education imparted to students of university is much more
complex and developed as compared to the school level education (Bovill and et.al., 2016). I this
report, an analysis will be done on the challenges that the students face while undertaking
university level education and later on, appropriate recommendations or strategies will be
developed in order to minimise the challenges thus identified.
MAIN BODY
Literature Review
In the research paper published by Yao and et.al. (2016), they have illustrated that teachers
play a critical role in analysing the challenges that university students face in their learning
process and then address them accordingly. The authors have highlighted the importance of
developing high order thinking in the individuals in the 21st century graduates. The authors have
pointed out that the major challenge is the type of education that the children are receiving, i.e. it
is more summative in nature rather than sustainable. Due to this, there are many barriers that
students face in the practical life aspect as well. Therefore the authors conclude that when the
learning will become more active and refined, the challenges that the students of universities face
will automatically decline thus leading to better educational practices.
However, as per the view of Alharbi, McKenna and Whittall (2019), they state that during
the university education, there are different challenges that students face rather than regarding
the type of education that they are getting. There are a range of challenges that can be illustrated
here such as cognitive challenges, time management challenges, cultural barriers or language
problems etc. these are the actual challenges that they face and these challenges act as barriers in
their education process where the students might not be able to get a more comprehensive and all
round education that could have if these challenges would not have arisen.
In contrast to the point discussed above, Tomlinson (2017), have argued in their research
paper that the challenges exist in the learning experience so that the overall process of learning
can further improve and enhance. They have stated in order to meet every challenge there are
certain strategies that can be adopted by students or made applicable by the management of the
universities. Every type of challenges can be addressed by corrective actions for instance cultural
barrier that is the most common barrier in the university education can be solved by increasing
the acceptability and education of the different cultures. However, the authors also quoted that
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certain challenges such as inability to read, lack of attention etc. can act as motivators for
improving performance rather than eliminating them completely. These challenges can enhance
the entire process of learning for students making them more skilled and talented.
Another research paper presented by Oldfield and et.al. (2019), have argued in similar
contexts, that focus should be on proper management of the barriers that arise rather than on their
elimination. The authors have targeted teachers in their research paper stating that teachers must
be aware of the different problems that students are facing and they should be specifically aware
of the peer pressure that can arise due to such challenges or barriers. They have stated that there
should be a proper balance between the promotion of healthier challenges and rooting out those
challenges that might demotivate the students or create a negative aspect in their learning
process. Therefore, the authors concluded that role of teachers and management is extensive in
ensuring a comprehensive and enhanced learning process of students in universities.
Analysis and discussion
On the basis of the literature review done above of the different research papers that have
been published by authors, the fact that the challenges of various types arise in the students life
while they pursue their education can be categorised as follows:
Cognitive Challenge: It has been identified that this is the most common challenges that students
face in higher education level. Cognitive thinking is essential in developing scholarly thinking
and gaining academic knowledge which most of the students gearing up for higher education
lack. There are several aspects that this challenge portrays such as developing an understanding
of the complicated phrases, learning how to integrate the theory that has been learn with writing
skills, not just understanding the concept but also implementing it etc. (Morina, Lopez-Gavira
and Molina, 2017). Therefore, the increases learning that students have to undertake in terms of
vocabulary, new concepts, reading writing etc. pose as a challenge for students whose thinking
has not been developed yet for such advanced learning.
Active Learner: In order to make the learning more comprehensive, it is necessary to become a
active learner i.e. the learner that is more involved in the activities of the class. A student who is
well read about the topic before class begins, who engages in question answer sessions, who is
interested in learning more about the topics that are being covered are termed as active learner.
However, this is another major challenge for the students because they find it difficult to cope up
with those students who are smarter and therefore have wider knowledge area. Additionally, the
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students who are not much vocal and do not speak even if they are well prepared and are
interested might feel complex due to the lack of attention (Hassel and Ridout, 2018).
Cultural and Language Barriers: This is a kind of negative challenge that the students face
where the peer pressure is much higher and the student is not able to concentrate on their studies.
Cultural barriers arise when the students belonging to different nationalities or cultures study
with the students who belong to mainstream cultures. The method of teaching is widely different
from their native countries or areas and also, the culturally offensive or racial jokes can be a
major change for the student to mingle in. Additionally, the language can also be a barrier where
the students might know how to speak English but their pronunciation can be different than the
ones who for the majority of the similar culture.
Time management: Often, a university student is immediately burdened with a lot of
assignments on a regular basis, attending classes, preparing for them in advance etc. and this can
be a tiresome process where a student might not be able to catch up regularly (Bell and et.al.,
2017). When this challenges arises, students often lax out either on their assignment completion
or in their learning procedure which poses a threat to their overall learning process. Therefore, it
is necessary for the teachers and management to avoid such challenge which is their control and
the study procedure of the student should not be disrupted where one student might outperform
other students simply because that one particular student is able to manage time better than other
students.
Recommendations for overcoming the challenges thus arising
On the basis of the challenges identified above, there are certain recommendations that can
be made for the students as well as for the teachers so that learning process in universities
becomes simplified:
 A student should be made familiar with a properly designed curriculum and the level of
education that will take place well in advance so that they can being preparing for their
lectures or study material well before time thus giving them adequate time for a head
start (Murthy, 2018). This will avoid the situation of students panicking from the studies
and losing their confidence.
 There should be a stricter policy of zero tolerance towards any cultural biasness in the
classrooms or even in and off the campus. This will create a mutually positive learning
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environment where the students are able to solely concentrate on their studies rather than
on other distracting issues.
 It is the duty of the teacher to identify and focus on individual student in the class rather
than ones who are more active or more vocal. Teachers should acknowledge that it is
good to focus on active learners but they are self capable of completing their educational
duties and do not require much assistance as compared to those who are comparatively
silent or are not very keenly involved (Yao and et.al., 2016). Therefore, focus of the
teacher should be more on the overall development of all the students.
 The management should develop proper schedules or the children where they can create a
balance between the learning, assignments and other sociable activities. When they are
overburdened, they won’t be able to perform well which will impact their studies as well
(Bovill and et.al., 2016). Therefore, development of proper schedules along with proper
planning o he different activities and events to be completed helps the students in
allocating time for everything.
 The last strategy that can be adopted by their teachers is that rather than directly imposing
a complex learning level, they should increase their level phase by phase where
beginning with comparatively easier knowledge that the students are not just expected to
have but they actually possess it will be a better option where the student can widen their
learning at a steadier rate.
CONCLUSION
The report above helps in concluding that the challenges that the students face are extensive
and multi fold where it is very easy to lose the track of comprehensive education if the students
are not properly supported. The report also identified certain recommendations or strategies that
could be adopted which will help in the overall development of students collectively an
comprehensively.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alharbi, M., McKenna, L. and Whittall, D., 2019. Social barriers experienced by female Saudi
nursing students while studying nursing: A phenomenological study. Nurse education in
practice. 34. pp.123-129.
Bell, S., and et.al., 2017. Making the transition to post-secondary education: opportunities and
challenges experienced by students with ASD in the Republic of Ireland. European
Journal of Special Needs Education. 32(1). pp.54-70.
Bovill, C., and et.al., 2016. Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching:
Overcoming resistance, navigating institutional norms and ensuring inclusivity in
student–staff partnerships. Higher Education. 71(2). pp.195-208.
Hassel, S. and Ridout, N., 2018. An investigation of first-year students' and lecturers'
expectations of university education. Frontiers in psychology. 8. p.2218.
Morina, A., Lopez-Gavira, R. and Molina, V.M., 2017. What if we could imagine an Ideal
University? Narratives by Students with Disabilities. International Journal of Disability,
Development and Education. 64(4). pp.353-367.
Murthy, C.R.K., 2018. Unit 5: Management of Higher Education: Institutional Level. IGNOU.
Oldfield, J., and et.al., 2019. A face in a sea of faces: exploring university students’ reasons for
non-attendance to teaching sessions. Journal of Further and Higher Education. 43(4).
pp.443-452.
Tomlinson, M., 2017. Student perceptions of themselves as ‘consumers’ of higher
education. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 38(4). pp.450-467.
Yao, X., and et.al., 2016. Semantic annotation of high-resolution satellite images via weakly
supervised learning. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 54(6).
pp.3660-3671.
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