Study Skills for Higher Education: A Comprehensive Report

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STUDY SKILLS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
ASSIGNMENT 1.............................................................................................................................. 4
MAJOR ASPECTS OR REASONS OF STUDYING A DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY..................................4
THE CORE ACADEMIC SKILLS THAT CAN BE DEVELOPED AND THEIR IMPORTANCE..................6
DEVELOPING THE STUDY PLAN THAT HELPS IN ACHIEVING ALL THE SKILLS THAT ARE
DISCUSSED ABOVE..................................................................................................................... 8
ASSIGNMENT 2.............................................................................................................................. 9
IDENTIFYING THE FOUNDATION YEAR IMPORTANCE FOR THE STUDENTS FROM WIDE
BACKGROUNDS..........................................................................................................................9
EXPLAIN THE KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS.............................11
HOW STUDY SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS
OVERCOME SOME OF THESE CHALLENGES.............................................................................12
CONCLUSION THAT is BASED ON THE MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED IN THIS SECTION...............14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 15
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
In this report, the topics that will be discussed is study skills for higher education, in which there
are two sections that will be discussed. The first part of the report explains the following major
points, such as the reasons for which students are learning a degree at university. Various
important academic skills that can be cultivated and developed and importance of those skills
and it includes the discussion of the preparation of the study plan in which all the long term and
short term goals are included which will help in developing the academic skills.
The other section of the report includes various topics such as the necessity of the foundation
year students and why it is important for students to participate in the foundation year. The
other major topic is the entire major challenges that student’s face in the foundation year. Also
the importance of the higher education that helps in the foundation year studies and also helps
in overcoming challenges faced in the foundation year. Thus by discussing all these aspects this
topic will be discussed in detail and will help in providing better understanding and knowledge.
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ASSIGNMENT 1
MAJOR ASPECTS OR REASONS OF STUDYING A DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY
There are a lot of reasons why studying degree at university is important or what major role it
plays in an individual’s life. Studying at university is an important part and it helps the person in
making development in many fields (Henderson et al., 2017).
Today the world is growing very fast and to cope up with the world, a person must have skills
and competencies that can help them to fight in the competitive world. A person moves on in
life, there are many needs that can only be fulfilled with knowledge and skills and education at
university helps an individual in gaining those required aspects.
FIGURE 1: REASONS OF STUDYING A DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY
The following reasons for studying at university:
 The university education helps a person in gaining a sense of development and
achievement in them (Henderson et al., 2017)
 The university education also enables a person to establish new connections and
relations and creating new professional networks
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 The students are able to gain exposure to different backgrounds and culture
 University studies also help in developing creativity and innovation in individual
thoughts and also develops independent thinking
 University education helps students to gain reputation and helps in getting better
opportunities for the job (Henderson et al., 2017)
 The students those who are also able to plan their career easily and get stability in
financial terms
Thus these are all the major reasons which help and support students in making their life better
and fruitful and help an individual in many ways. The result from the above discussion can be
Studying at university is necessary to have benefits of all the major points explained above.
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THE CORE ACADEMIC SKILLS THAT CAN BE DEVELOPED AND THEIR
IMPORTANCE
This is to be discussed that there are many skills that are important for the development of the
student's life and thus in this section, various important academic skills will be discussed along
with the importance of those skills in the life of a student studying at university.
The essential academic skills are as follows:
 Students must have communication skills
Communication skills are necessary as they are the bridge that fills the two persons and
also helps in delivering one person’s thoughts to another (Cronin et al., 2017)
 Students also have collaboration skills
This skill is essential for students because this will help in generating the feeling of
competition which is very important for an individual’s development
 The skill of adaptive thinking is another important aspect
The adaptive thinking is another important skill because in the changing world
environment it is very important for an individual to work according to the changes
(Cronin et al., 2017). The person has to adopt all the new things for new development
and learning.
 Managing personal activities is also an important skill
As a student, it is very important that he must be able to manage all the personal
activities because then only the person would be able to face situations in the outside
world. If the person's personal management is not good then that person will not be
able to make differences in their life for future betterment (Cronin et al., 2017).
 For better performance at the academic field students also have technological skills
In the growing world almost in every field, there is a need for technology and for that
students must have knowledge of the technology for their improvement in their career.
 Creativity & innovation, soft speaking and empathy & perspective is also necessary
skills that student must have
These skills help students in being more effective towards their attitude and behaviour,
these skills are important for the personality development of the students.
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Importance of academic skills:
It is very important for students to develop these skills because they help in developing
confidence level, with confidence students feel more positive and their performance in every
field increases automatically. An academic skill also helps students in increasing competencies
and self-esteem, and support in the reduction of stress and anxiety (Cronin et al., 2017.
The students also establish a better ability to grasp and learn new things and are able to retain
useful knowledge. Through these skills, they will be able to grow and improve their self and
would be able to achieve higher success in the field of life.
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DEVELOPING THE STUDY PLAN THAT HELPS IN ACHIEVING ALL THE SKILLS
THAT ARE DISCUSSED ABOVE
The study plan for the students that helps in acquiring the following skills that are discussed
above, in which all the long and short term goals are mentioned.
The plan for students will include the following major aspects:
Students must start interacting more with the people and try to learn their good habits and
values, this will help in improving their communication and also help in the development of
their thinking power. For the development of adaptive thinking, students must spend more
time with children and must learn from them how they find their interest in everything and
enjoy at that moment. This is a very important skill for students to adopt change because this
helps in learning and growth.
Other activities that students must practice is starting working in a team, that will help in
developing collaborative skills that mean students will be able to understand how things go
when people continue working in groups.
The other short term goals in the plan will be to start reading good books, newspapers and
listen to debates of famous persons. These will help in improving their thinking, help in
gathering a lot of knowledge and also helps in being creative and innovative. In a short period
of time, students will develop a habit of these activities and this will help in many areas.
The long term goals will include learning personal management because this is the activity that
is very difficult to change, many times people are very good at other skills but they are unable
to manage their personal things and activities.
Thus with the help of the study plan students would be able to develop academic skills that will
help them in improving their personality and to achieve success in their life.
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ASSIGNMENT 2
IDENTIFYING THE FOUNDATION YEAR IMPORTANCE FOR THE STUDENTS
FROM WIDE BACKGROUNDS
Foundation year course:
The foundation year course can be explained as the course which is usually for the period of
one year. This course is specially designed for the students those who are from the outside UK
and want to learn English language and also want to prepare for the entrance for taking
admission in the UK university (Sanders et al., 2016).
The students from different background need to study in the foundation year because there are
many benefits of studying in the foundation year.
The various points will explain the importance of the foundation year to the students from wide
backgrounds:
 Students are able to learn many new skills in the foundation year
 They learn how to interact with people from other culture and society
 Students learn to work in a team (Tatton et al., 2018)
 They learn leadership as well as management skills in the foundation year
 Students get the chance to improve their communication skills
 Students learn the activities and habits that are followed in different cultures and
societies
 Students also get help in learning adaptive skills because of the frequent change in the
working environment of the working culture at college
 Students also get to enjoy the good social life
Thus this can be said that the foundation year plays a very important role in a student's life.
This is the year where students do not have much pressure for their studies and they can focus
on other things and other activity. In the foundation year, students can develop their
personalities, they could learn many other things and skills. Foundation year is very necessary
for every student's life.
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Apart from the benefits that are discussed above the foundation year course is also
important for the students because they provide various benefits for their growth and these
are as follows:
 Students are able to improve their language and communication skills
Generally, the foundation courses that are offered to students are in English language
and they help students in learning academic and general English, in which they can
improve their vocabulary, their writing and listening skills also (Sanders et al., 2016).
 Students get the applicable qualification for their career and their future studies
The students get the best qualifications for getting admission in the UK universities
which is an advantage for the foundation year students over other students
 The chances of getting admissions in the reputed UK universities increases
Usually, it is expected that the students those who are in the foundation year are fully
qualified and are ready to take admission in the undergraduate course in any of the UK
University (Sanders et al., 2016).
 The culture shock among students reduces
There are many students who get the culture shock and because of that they are not
able to adjust and to reduce the culture shock many of the students take admission in
the foundation year and get used to the working, teaching and the general culture of
that place or environment (Sanders et al., 2016).
Thus these are the following factors that crease the significance of the foundation year courses
and important of foundation year to the students.
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EXPLAIN THE KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS
The students in the foundation year face many challenges because of the reason that their
course is not like the other courses in the university.
The following challenges are as follows:
 The foundation year students feel isolation many times because their course is not like
the regular courses in the university
 Students have to face problems in finding jobs because they do not have another degree
or the foundation course degree is not enough for that particular job
 Foundation year students many times do not feel like they are studying in college and
thus this is also another problem they face (Simm et al., 2011)
 Foundation degree sometimes makes students feel ashamed because this degree does
not have much value as another regular degree
 In the foundation year, students are from various different backgrounds and they are
not able to adjust with each other (Simm et al., 2011)
 Sometimes students also feel depression and anxiety in the foundation year
 Many students in different articles stated that they also feel homesickness in the
foundation year (Simm et al., 2011)
Thus these are the various challenges that students in the universities I the foundation year
faces. The students usually feel excluded from the group of the regular and normal students
and also alike regular students they do not get equal opportunities for a job in the working
environment (Simm et al., 2011).
Students also miss many activities that are conducted in the regular colleges and which are not
likely to happen for the students who are studying in the foundation year.
Thus this is to be concluded that in spite of the many advantages of the foundation year
courses and the degree to students. These are the few challenges that students have to face
when they are studying in the foundation year.
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HOW STUDY SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP FOUNDATION YEAR
STUDENTS OVERCOME SOME OF THESE CHALLENGES
The study skills that are learned in higher education could help the students in the foundation
year in overcoming many challenges. Some of the study skills are discussed hereunder:
1. Self-management
This is the habit of the higher education which will help the foundation year students in
overcoming many challenges such as foundation year students would be able to manage
and adjust in the new environment; they will be able to adopt changes that are taking
place in the new journey of their career (Krutkowski, 2017)
2. Managing time
Time management is the most essential trait that every person must have, especially for
the foundation year students. It is very important to manage time and if this is learned
in higher education then this will definitely beneficial in many ways to the foundation
year students. Students will be able to manage all the activities and because they are in
the foundation year so they need to make plans for other further courses and their
career and thus this skill of time management will help students in many ways.
3. Planning for the activities need to be done
The habit of planning in higher education students will help in managing other things
when they are the foundation year (Krutkowski, 2017). Planning helps in shortlisting
which activities are more important and which are not, which will take more time and
which will not. Thus through the study skill that students had learned in their higher
studies will also help in foundation year (Krutkowski, 2017).
4. Finding out useful resources
The skill of finding useful resources that students have learned in their higher education
will help them in fighting with the challenge of sitting ideal. Usually, students do not
have much pressure of studies and this habit of finding useful resources will help in
overcoming challenges in the foundation year. Students will not have to face the
challenge of being unproductive in that year (Krutkowski, 2017).
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