Study Skills in Higher Education: Overcoming Challenges for Students

This report delves into the significance of study skills for students in higher education, particularly focusing on the foundation year. It highlights the crucial role of these skills in acquiring and retaining knowledge for future career development. The report outlines the importance of the foundation year, especially for international students, and discusses the various challenges they encounter, such as homesickness, language barriers, cultural shock, and academic pressure. The main body explores how study skills, including time management, note-taking, listening, communication, and writing, can help students overcome these challenges. The report emphasizes the benefits of effective communication, time management, and cultural understanding in navigating the complexities of higher education. The conclusion reinforces the increasing relevance of foundation courses due to the career opportunities they offer. The report is designed to help students develop the necessary skills to succeed in their studies and future careers. Desklib provides access to past papers and solved assignments to enhance your study skills.

Study Skills For Higher
Education

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Importance of the foundation year for students.....................................................................................3
Key challenges facing by students...........................................................................................................4
Overcome of challenges through study skills..........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Study skills refer to the skills which are required by students for acquiring knowledge
and retaining that knowledge for further study in the career development. Higher education is the
third level of UK education structure which includes undergraduates and postgraduates studies
for the purpose of better career purpose. In the high education, study skills play a significant role
in students to obtain required knowledge and development of their lifestyles with better career
opportunities (Assiter, 2017).
Present report will highlight the importance of foundation year for the students. It will
also tell about the challenges faced by foundation year students. This report will discuss the ways
of overcoming with these challenges by the study skills in higher education.
MAIN BODY
Importance of the foundation year for students
Foundation year is a one year preparation course for the students who want to take
admission in universities for the under graduation courses. It is generally take by international
students who belong to different background and nation. Course of foundation year are important
for the students who wants to study further for the better future career opportunities.
Due to various reasons, it is becoming popular between students and plays significant
roles in their career development. The importances of foundation courses and foundation year for
the students are as follows –
It helps in improving the English language of students which make them proficiency in the
speaking of English. Also it will help students to understand the further studies which are being
conducted by undergraduate universities. This also helps students to easily communicate with
other students, staffs, professors, local community in one common language which lead to create
understanding and respect for others cultural and communication values. It also helps students to

gain better career opportunities as English language is considered to be the core aspects for any
higher and better job posts (Drew and Bingham, 2017).
Due to foundation year courses, it helps students to easily enroll in the world’s best
universities whose name are enough for the development of career opportunities in multinational
and national companies which helps students to earn a good amounts of earnings. This lead to
improvement in their and family’s lifestyle. Increase in standards of lifestyle will lead to increase
in quality of consumption of foods and health services. Overall it is important for the
improvement in quality of life and makes it much healthier and comfortable.
With the help of foundation year courses, students’ qualifications for the future studies become
more relevant. As it helps students to acquire necessary skills, knowledge and capabilities, These
3 aspects not only helps in development of his career but also development his personal and
professional attributes which makes him a better person as well as a better professional person.
Not only in practical approach, but also in theoretical approach, students are able to clear
understand of the basic theories, models, approaches, formulas, notions, notes and elements of
their own subject which make their working style more effectively (Bravo and et.al., 2016).
With the help of foundation year course, there are higher chances for the students to
experience and understand the local cultural and religion values & customs which helps students
to adjust accordingly without any kinds of harm or disrespecting of these cultural values and
customs etc. Moreover, due to foundation year, they are becoming familiar with the environment
of academy, teaching systems & styles of professors and types of studies & assessment which
make them flexible and adopt flexibility in their behavior in different situations.
Education standards stand a huge difference in the teaching methods, the number of study
hours and qualifications. Foundation year courses in UK help to eradicate this difference and
match skill standards of all the students. It helps them to develop intermediate level technical and
professional skills and also helps them to attain a standard level required to move forward in
their career with the mitigation of skills gap. So, Foundation courses are helpful in making
students strong in lack in any area of particular subjects whether its Maths, History or English
language skills etc.
There are various foundation year courses which is being by UK universities in verities of
subjects. These varieties of subjects help students to choose their own field in which they want to
do specialize. This specialization helps students to grow more in their field and help him to
become a successful professional person. Thus, foundation year plays importance roles in
students’ life (Hryciw, Tangalakis and Best, 2017).
Key challenges facing by students
There are various challenges which are being faced by foundation year students. These
challenges are as follows –

Students are coming from various countries to attain these foundation year courses which
are structure for these kinds of international students. Due to out of its own countries and far
away from own home, Students feel homesick which is one of the major challenges facing by
foundation year students. Because without any kind of physical support from family and friends
at new place with new people make students uncomfortable for sometimes and this feeling of
uncomfortability make students homesick.
All the international students are able to understand the English or are able to speak
English accents of UK, it is not necessary. This lead students to face language barrier issue
which sometimes create misunderstanding between two communicated people due to wrong
interpretation of communicated message or non verbal communication. It also leads to lack of
confidence in Students which can create a big challenge for their career progression (Jääskelä,
Nykänen and Tynjälä, 2018).
It is easy to understand the cultural values rather than adjustment of behaviours of
students according to the UK culture and social values. It is known as Cultural Shock which is
one of the major challenges being faced by international students who applied for the foundation
year course in the UK universities for the better future career opportunities and growth. It can
also lead foundation year students to face integration issues with local students, professors and
community.
In UK, students are given the freedom to earn and live their life themselves. This may
lead international students to feel lack of confidence. Also due to not control of parents over UK
local students, they are highly spoiled which lead international students to become spoilt child
due to lack of control and effect of consistency (Johansson, 2017).
In the UK, higher education standards are high and all international students are not from
same countries and background where standards of education level are differ from each other.
This mismatch between standards of two countries’ education system can make students to face
academic pressures which can lead them to face anger issues, anxiety issues, low self-esteem
issues, sleep issues and stress etc which can impact his mental as well as physical health.
When it comes to students’ roommates, it always hits or misses because a student will
never know who he or she are living with and how he or she will get them along with each other.
When some international students live together with sharing room or flat, it can be discouraging
and terrifying for all or one international student due to different background, culture and
countries which differs in habits and lifestyle. This also can lead to arisen of conflicts between
students too.
Trying to live alone and doing the necessary work, to maintain social life, to work in any
kind of work to help in the bear expenses, to have students manage their time and study.
They sleep in irregular patterns and do everything in the end (Rugemalira, 2017). Such

behavior pattern is unstable and therefore, it make them flustered and divert from their
main motive for which they come to UK i.e.- further study.
Overcome of challenges through study skills
Study Skills
Study skills are an important set of transferable life skills that helps in developing
personal approach to study and learning (Ryan and Zuber-Skerritt, 2017).
Various Types of Study Skills
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Dividing your time between specific activities to get more done in less time is called
Time Management. Good time management focuses on results rather than on activities and
emphasis smart working rather than hard working. The first step towards success is efficient time
management because it increases productivity, improves quality of work and helps to reduce
stress. Time management is essential for people from all walks of life and helps in attainment of
goals.
NOTES TAKING SKILLS
Note taking skills are a necessary tool which helps a person in understanding the available
material precisely. It helps in improving concentration and stimulating ideas and creativity.
Effective note making helps a student to process and understand the information being received.
It helps in focusing on important material and retrieves the information by having a personal
record of what has been learnt till date.
LISTENING SKILLS
Listening is the key to effective communication. It is the ability to interpret the messages
correctly during communication. Understanding and overcoming barriers to listening can
facilitate effective communication skills. Empathic listening can improve the relationship
between the speaker and the audience leading to a mutual understanding between the two. Lack
of effective listening may lead to misunderstandings, confusions and conflicts among people.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Communication is transmission of meaning among people. It is the key to personal as well as
career success. Good communication within an organization leads to its smooth functioning and
provides effective knowledge sharing and avoiding any kind of work related confusion. The
more we communicate, the less we complicate and feel better about everything.
WRITING SKILLS

Writing is a medium to communicate. Writing skills filter your knowledge and brain to the point
of value. It will increase your knowledge and improve your memory by making you sharp and
creative. It also helps to improve vocabulary. It helps in focusing on exploring and consolidating
what’s being learnt (Virtanen and Tynjälä, 2018).
Overcome with challenges through study skills
There are various ways in which study skills helps overcoming with the challenges being
faced by foundation year students. These ways are as follows –
Communication skills can help you overcome with homesick issues. Students can share
their problems with universities and professors through effective communication skills which is
an essential part of study skill. Universities will provide special counseling service and
encouragement so that students can deal with this issue and can easily focus on the study.
Communication skills and time management skills will help students to overcome with
language barrier. Students also can take English language classes where through the help of
effective listening skills will help student to understand the assent of UK English, their
pronunciation and their meanings which helps in improvement of English language and make
their study easily understandable for them.
Through communication skills and various study skills, students can understand its
cultural values and customs by reading books based on UK history or culture. Also, students can
communicate with local community (Schneider and Preckel, 2017). Like this, students will get to
know about the importance of these cultures and easily adopt these cultures and customs in their
behavior.
Through the development of time management skills, Students can easily managed their
work-life balance which helps them to overcome with such issues such as anger issues, anxiety
issues, low self-esteem issues, sleep issues and stress etc. This will help students to focused on
their studies properly along with earning sources. It will help in boost their confidence level as
well as makes them a little independent.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that the popularity of foundation courses are
increasing day by day due to great career opportunities given by this course. Foundation courses are
generally for 1 year and structure in order to gain international students who want to do something in their
life. But along with great opportunities, foundation year students face a lot of challenges which needed to
be address on time otherwise students won’t e able to do fulfill their purpose for which they enroll in
universities.

REFERENCES
Assiter, A., 2017. Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge.
Bravo, A., and et.al., 2016. Teaching for higher levels of thinking: developing quantitative and
analytical skills in environmental science courses. Ecosphere. 7(4). p.e01290.
Drew, S. and Bingham, R., 2017. The guide to learning and study skills: For higher education
and at work. Routledge.
Hryciw, D.H., Tangalakis, K. and Best, G., 2017, August. Development of transferable skills in a
low-SES population through peer assisted study sessions. In Proceedings of The
Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education. (formerly UniServe
Science Conference) (p. 69).
Jääskelä, P., Nykänen, S. and Tynjälä, P., 2018. Models for the development of generic skills in
Finnish higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education. 42(1). pp.130-142.
Johansson, E., 2017. Assessing for Higher-Order Thinking skills: An international study of
university teachers' perception of developing e-assessment that fosters higher level
outcomes.
Rugemalira, J., 2017. Language Skills for Higher Education in Tanzania.
Ryan, Y. and Zuber-Skerritt, O., 2017. Quality in postgraduate education. Routledge.
Schneider, M. and Preckel, F., 2017. Variables associated with achievement in higher education:
A systematic review of meta-analyses. Psychological bulletin. 143(6). p.565.
Virtanen, A. and Tynjälä, P., 2018. Factors explaining the learning of generic skills: a study of
university students’ experiences. Teaching in Higher Education. pp.1-15.