This report reviews the challenges faced by students when they start their university life and provides recommendations to overcome them. It covers topics such as time management, culture shock, competition, and more.
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ABSTRACT This report reviews the key challenges faced by the students when they start their new university life. In this report, several challenges and measures to overcome those challenges are addressed. It also covers relevant steps that can be taken order to reduce the impact of it on student’s life.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................4 LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................................4 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.........................................................................................................................5 RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................................5 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................6 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION Moving from school to University is a very big thing. But in order to achieve success it is very essential to grab the specific skills and abilities that will be very helpful in further education. This scenario of studying in school is different from a University and it requires one to get prepared for the same. In this report the major challenges faced by the students when they start their university life. It also includes some recommendations that can be used to overcome these challenges. LITERATURE REVIEW According toKahu, Nelson and Picton (2017), starting University means starting a new life as a student’s leave their home to start a new journey based on self-reliance and self- discovery which completely changes the outlook on life. Also, sometimes students are not prepared for the challenges that they might face in university and which may result into overwhelmed with the situation and might take extra time in adjusting with their new life. The major challenges face with students are- first is adjustment to new life. Whether the student is experiencing the campus life for the first time or has just came back from home after vacations, requires a certain amount of time for adjusting with the change. For the first-year student, it is always very hard which come with the culture shock because of the change in the culture from where they have come from which may get them confused with all the new things surrounding them. Second is time management, from living alone to doing the required chores along with maintain the social life, eating well and getting enough sleep is the one of the major challenges faced by the students. As stated byKwon, Kim and Kwak (2018), as student’s find no time to manage all these things which leads to irregular pattern of sleeps and last-minute stuffs. This encourages the need to manage this unsustainable behavior. Next is home sickness, this challenge can strike the student very hard. But because of the modern and different means of communication students can stay connected with their family and friends over internet. Another challenge is tough competition. As per the view ofParker and et.al (2017), it is of no surprise that competition is apart of life and everyone has to face it. But when it comes to students, the level of competition they face is much more and extremely high. They have to work hard in order to prove themselves. It is all fine if the competition is healthy but if it turns ugly and challenging then students need to little more careful. Another important challenge that affects many is finding new friends. It is very difficult to find and make new friends to a completely new place. Sometimes, students try to fit with the people who are of different interest just for the sake of making friends. The next challenge faced by the students is very common which is health related issues. This issue is faced by mostly everyone especially when they stay away from their home. Students sometimes fall sick frequently either because of the change in environment and sometimes it may be the result of issues related to education system which is very demotivating to the students as not every student is a quick learner. This leads to mental health problems as well. As stated byKong and et.al (2016), relationships can also be the major problem and challenge for the students in university. Relationship can be related to anything with respect to love, support and excitement. But it also results in pain and sufferings if things go all wrong. This topic is very sensitive and important. There might to situation when students tend to
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develop feelings for someone and might get overfriendly with someone which may be opposite sex. Handling it very carefully is essential otherwise it can cause a serious problem. Depression is also one of the challenges that student faces. This can lead to increase in stress level and will be the cause of many health-related issues both mentally and physically. As said byBovill and et.al (2016), apart from these basis problems sometimes problem arises from our surroundings such as peer pressure, which is the major issue faced by university students. It has a direct influence on the person by peer group and such people are encouraged to follow what others are saying. It includes changing the attitude, behavior, perception. As per the view ofCowley (2016),feeling of lacking behind or lack of skills is also the issue student faces. In this, student has the feeling of unprepared with respect to the task that is required to be completed along with relevant skills. In such situations, students try to put themselves off or make excuses in order to put things on hold and also thinks that there is no sufficient time and energy to put in in order to complete the task. Along with that students tries to avoid the task which is very hard and don’t know where to start from. Thus, all these challenges are required to be tackled very carefully because a student’s life is linked to it. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Based on the above, it can be said that a student faces many problem and challenges when starting a new life without knowing what will come in its ways. All these challenges seem to be very small and common that everyone faces but it can defer from person to person because everyone faces it in their own ways which in other words can be said that how challenging it can be completely depends upon the student with respect to facing it (Trautwein and Bosse, 2017). These problems are faced by university student that doesn’t mean that university is responsible for it. University is preparing students to face the challenges that they might come cross in their career and it will become easy for the students to tackle the same in a proficient manner without any stress because they are already used to it (Key, 2019). The progress needs to be made on the part of students by upgrading their skills, attitude and behavior which are the foremost things that are required to mitigate or face the challenges more effectively. RECOMMENDATIONS In order to overcome these challenges some of the steps and practices that can be used to reduce the influence of it on the student are stated below. For managing time effectively, it is very essential for students prepare a schedule along with reminders which will help in timely following the schedule set. If students are not able to prepare a specific schedule, they can seek help for others like friends, mentor, faculty etc. Also, the students should prioritize the work in order to efficiently execute the task and complete it on time. The change in culture makes students stressed so they should try yoga and other meditation to relax their mind. For effectively handling relationships, the universities provide guidance counselors and housing assistants who provides help in handling the social aspect of university life.
Also, students should remind themselves that abusive roommates, overly needy friends and social isolation are all the problems that cannot be handled all alone and there is no shame in asking for help either a friend, counselor etc. In case of lack of skills and knowledge, students first prepare a list of answered questions and then research about the same and even after this if the student is not able to find the solution then should talk to the professor about the questions (Nazareth, 2018). Students should find out ways to enhance their skills which can help in solving and completing the task more effectively. For facing the peer pressure challenge, the only way is to say goodbye to those friends and also make sure that there won’t be any toxic people who can affect or put pressure. Along with that, try to approach to trustworthy person mostly an elder if things like bulling is taking place in the campus. To overcome the problem of homesickness, the students can visit their home in once or twice in a month if it is just 3 to 4 hours away. Also, can ask friends and family to do a call, send care packages etc. All these activities will help in reducing the feeling of homesickness. If the student is having the depression and stress problem in that case student should seek the support of someone who is more professional and knows how to motivate the person (Cowley and Hyams-Ssekasi, 2018). Many universities have counselling programs for students which provides assistance to the students and provide training to get back on track. CONCLUSION It can be summarized from the above analysis that it is very hard to shift from place to especially all alone and apart from the family. Students have to face many challenges in their life for achieving something from school, colleges to university. There are several challenges that a university student might come across such as homesickness, time management, change in culture, relationship problems etc. So, to solve these issues or reduce its impact certain recommendation is provided which will be very helpful in tackling the situation and contribute to memorable university experience.
REFERENCES Books and Journals Bovill, C. and et.al, 2016. Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching: Overcomingresistance,navigatinginstitutionalnormsandensuringinclusivityin student–staff partnerships.Higher Education.71(2). pp.195-208. Cowley, P. and Hyams-Ssekasi, D., 2018. Motivation, Induction, and Challenge: Examining the Initial Phase of International Students’ Educational Sojourn.Journal of International Students.8(1). pp.109-130. Cowley, P., 2016. Managing expectations: an exploration of the issues, challenges and support systems relevant to international students in UK higher education. Kahu, E., Nelson, K. and Picton, C., 2017. Student interest as a key driver of engagement for first year students.Student Success.8(2). pp.55-66. Key,A.,2019.Exploringtheexperiencesofestrangedstudentsinhighereducation:a longitudinal comparative case study of two UK universities. Durham University, School of Education. Kong, E. and et.al, 2016. University Transition Challenges for First Year Domestic CALD Students from Refugee Backgrounds: A Case Study from an Australian Regional University.Australian Journal of Adult Learning.56(2). pp.170-197. Kwon, S. J., Kim, Y. and Kwak, Y., 2018. Difficulties faced by university students with self- reported symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a qualitative study.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health.12(1). p.12. Parker, H. and et.al, 2017. Understanding the different challenges facing students in transitioning to university particularly with a focus on ethnicity.New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences,12. Trautwein, C. and Bosse, E., 2017. The first year in higher education—critical requirements from the student perspective.Higher Education.73(3). pp.371-387. Online Nazareth, F., 2018.What Are The Challenges You Face As A Student And How To Overcome Them?[Online].AvailableThrough:<https://www.alignthoughts.com/what-are-the- challenges-you-face-as-a-student-and-how-to-overcome-them/>.