Challenges and Benefits of Foundation Year Programs

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Study Skills for Higher Education
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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Reference List................................................................................................................................13
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Task 1
Introduction
Getting a degree is important for the traditional studying and it authenticates the learning of the
students. The students need to pass different stages in education for fulfilling the qualification of
degree. This essay will discuss about the details of getting a degree in the universities. The
importance of getting degree will be discussed throughout the essay. The essay will help to
discuss different learning skills of the students. Long and short-term goals of the study plan will
be described and it will help to gain knowledge about the required academic skills of the
students. Different academic skills such as paraphrasing, academic writing, learning styles and
note taking will be incorporated. Importance of getting degree will be explained in the essay and
it will help to achieve the knowledge about core academic skills about getting a degree.
Discussion
1. What are the main reasons for studying a degree at university?
Getting a degree at university will help the students to gain required knowledge. Degree
increases knowledge of the students in the university. Several benefits of getting a degree at the
university will be explained below:
a. Higher paid jobs
Degree holder students tend to possess higher paid jobs and the lifestyles of these people are
better compared to the non-degree holder students. It will give the students an opportunity to
meet their dream easily (Holdaway and Kelloway, 1987). Higher paid jobs generally demand
higher level of knowledge in the subjects. It will provide the students with better opportunities in
the academic life. The scope of learning increases with a chance of holding degree in the
universities. It will help the learners to get more opportunities in life after getting the degree.
b. Greater involvement with the child’s education
If one generation in a family becomes highly educated, it will create some other educated
generation. The educational involvement within the family will be increased by getting a degree
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and knowledge from the university (Krutkowski, 2017). It will help the people to make the
children involved in better discussion and different generations will become highly educated by
getting a degree.
c. Social prestige
Degree of higher education will help the student to get more prestige that is social. It will be
esteemed for the students in the universities. Social prestige helps the students to get a better
lifestyle. The standard of acquaintances will be increased. It will help the students to become
more improved. Degree is a traditional way to authenticate the education of the students.
d. Improved learning skills
Skills of the students will be improved by getting a degree. Learning skill helps the students to
become social and level of understanding and education is improved by getting the degree. It will
help the students to get more skills of the subject in the specific subject. Capability of learning
within the students will be improved by getting a proper degree from an organisation.
2. What are the core academic skills that can be developed and why are they important?
Paraphrasing skills
This skill is considered one of the most important skills of writing the academic content. It
allows to create the academic content. It helps to use creativity of the students and overcoming
the plagiarism issue is another important part of this skill. It helps to increase the capability of
the students in writing academic contents (Gray and Biber, 2018). It will help to improve the
skills of writing essay and note taking capability. Creativity of the students is increased by
applying this skill to the writing.
Academic writing
This skill improves the communication of the students. It helps to improve the vocabulary. It is
important for improving the writing and oral communication skills of the students. It is important
for the students as the string vocabulary is created though it and the creativity and ability to
prioritise matters increases by applying these skills to the academic writing. It improves the
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academic skills of the students. It helps to improve the capability of the student to adjust with the
academic environment. It needs high paraphrasing skills of writing.
Learning styles
Learning style of the students can be improved by the skills. Different learning skills will help
the students to improve the learning capability by the students. Different learning styles will help
the students to increase the capability of learning and taking the new things into mind. It is
important to increase the area of knowledge of the students.
Note taking
Note taking skill should be incorporated within the students and it can be improved by regularly
practicing writing and taking notes in the lectures. The students should incorporate short hand
practice and it will help them to improve the speed of note taking.
Academic skills Methods to acquire
skill
Monitoring methods Time span
Paraphrasing Training, workshop
and regular practice
of writing
Regular checking of
plagiarism
1 months to 2 months
Styles of learning Training on the
learning styles of
individuals and
detailed learning
patterns for the
individuals.
Self-evaluation is the
best monitoring style
for monitoring the
learning styles of
individuals. Professor
feedback on the self-
evaluation is needed
to be monitored.
2 months to 4 months
Academic writing Regular written
communication,
regular practice of
writing and learning
about new words are
Different areas of the
written
communication skill
will be monitored by
checking feedback of
2 months to 6 months
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mainly required to
achieve this skill
the professor.
Workshops for
improving
communication
Note taking Practice writing,
regular note taking and
practicing short hand
writing
It can be monitored by
checking the quality of
taking notes regularly
1month to 2 months
Table 1: Development Plan for indicated skills
(Source: Created by the learner)
Conclusion
Degree is highly important for a bright future of the students. It is important to provide a better
lifestyle to the students. It has several methods and stages to be achieved. Importance of
achieving degree has been described throughout the essay and the importance of getting a degree
has been explained in the essay with proper details. It can be concluded from the essay that a
degree is highly important for the future of the lifestyle of the student. A detailed study plan has
been given in the essay and it will help the reader to understand the importance of academic
degree and the required skills. All the skills such as paraphrasing, academic writing, styles of
writing and note taking has been incorporated in the essay. It is extremely helpful for the
students to understand the details of getting a degree and the importance of education in the life
of students.
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Task 2
Introduction
Students of United Kingdom are facing problems regarding talent acquisition. Deficit mindset of
the teachers is resulting to overlook the existing talents of the students. A gap regarding the
knowledge of the students is being created by the system of education in the country. The
standard of learning is not much higher because of over concentrating on the weaknesses of the
students of the country. The entry in higher education is becoming a trend and the traditional
entrance in the higher education as well as entering into higher education in a non-formal way is
increasing. The performance of both the types of students is same in the higher education.
Students with low qualification who enter into higher education can also perform good as the
other students. In this report, the detailed discussion about the higher education in UK will be
discussed. The foundation programme of higher education form the widening participation
background will be explained in this report of the higher education of UK.
Main Body
a. Identify the importance of the foundation year for students from wide participation
backgrounds and explain why it is important.
Foundation Year Programme helps to get a different way out for entering into higher education
in United Kingdom. It helps to increase proficiency in the higher education of the students. It
helps the students to have a brief idea about the higher education in the country (Staples et al.,
2016). It is a one-year programme and it has several facilities for the students of the higher
education for getting better knowledge of the subject and language skills. The importance of the
foundation year will be explained below:
Proficiency of language
Foundation year programme is highly beneficial for the students as it provides proficiency in the
English language. Additional skill is provided to the students for English language. The
proficiency of the students is increased with the help of this course in the country. This course
teaches to write report and vocabulary of the language.
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Augmentation of chances to get admission in esteemed universities
It makes the students more eligible to get admissions in the prestigious universities. This course
provides higher knowledge and skills to the students and the capability to cope up with the
esteemed university will be higher (Babcock and Thonus, 2018). Additional skills and level of
understanding within the students increase with the help of this course.
Reduce in the culture shock
The change within culture between the school and university is an important factor within the
students in UK. Foundation year program helps the students to reduce culture shock. It is helpful
to make the students more comfortable about the environment of the prestigious universities of
higher education. The time to adjust with the new environment becomes less. It helps the
students to get more chances to learn from the universities. The amount of time wasted in
adjusting with the new culture becomes less by taking the course of foundation programme.
Guaranteed progression
The foundation year programme provides the opportunity to be placed in prestigious universities
of the country (Goodall Jr, 2016). It helps to increase the knowledge of the students. Some of the
foundation programmes provide chances to get places in large universities of the country and it
enables progress of the students. The learning skills of the students are augmented with the help
of this one-year course.
Contribution in wider participation
The foundation year programme in the country enables wider participation. It gives confidence to
the students for participating in several higher education related courses of the country. Wider
participation in the higher level of exams and courses increase efficiency of the students.
Academic skill improvement
Foundation year programme gives core knowledge about the subject that the students wish to
continue the programme (Martinez Lirola and Irwin, 2016). It increases the academic knowledge
base of the students and it helps to improve the academic capability of the students.
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b. Explain the key challenges facing foundation year students.
Foundation year programme is becoming highly popular in the country nowadays. It has several
benefits as well as challenges. Numbers of students are increasing in this course and it is helping
the students to cover up the areas with deficit in the companies. Meeting the deficits of the
students has become a trend of this type of course. The benefits of these courses have been
explained already now the challenges of this course will be explained below:
Deficit mindset
The foundation year programme mainly concentrates on fulfilling the deficits of the students to
make the able to adjust in the higher education universities. This mindset of the people is making
the deficit of the students more prominent (Higher Education Funding Council for England
(HEFCE, 2000). The existing talents of the students are being ignored with this mindset of the
people in the foundation year programme. This approach of learning is mainly focussing on the
negativity of the students. It might affect negatively on the students of the higher education. The
gap between the learning and getting a degree is increasing. This approach is creating a gap in
the mind of the students regarding the learning. The learning of the students is not being done
properly. The participation of the students worldwide is increasing and the competition within
the students is increasing but the learning is not increasing within the students.
Identity problem
This course is making the infrastructure and the type of education in these universities is
changing. The students are trying to adjust themselves within the infrastructure of the
universities and it is being difficult to many of the students. This incident is creating inferiority
complex within the students and due to this, the students are making small groups within the
institutes. It is becoming hard for some students to find their identity and expressing themselves
within the organisations is becoming hard in this situation. The identity crisis within the students
is becoming high with time. It is going to create problem for the future of the students.
Time-consuming process
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This process takes time of one year from the career of the students. It is difficult for the students
to give time for preparation of one year. This one-year time is sometime questionable for the
students in long-term. It is another challenge of this course in the lives of students.
Virtual learning environment
Virtual learning environment is difficult to understand by the students sometimes. It is an
entirely new experience to the students. The virtual learning environment needs to be understood
properly by the students and it is not always possible for all the students. The students are taking
different paths to pass the course for getting to enter to a prestigious organisation. It is not being
beneficial for the students at the end of the day. The students are not fulfilling the learning.
c. Discuss how study skills in higher education can help foundation year students overcome
some of these challenges.
Study skill is useful for the grabbing the skill to learn about the subject quickly and it will help
the universities to get better students. Study skills are different from just to get a degree. Study
skill enables the students to learn the subject from the core. Different types of study skills exist in
the universities and it helps the students to grab knowledge about different subjects. It helps to
improve the skills of the students. Some of the important study skills will be explained and the
importance of those study skills to mitigate the challenges will be explained below:
Effective and critical reading
Reading is the primary study skill that helps to increase knowledge about certain subjects. It will
make the students more comfortable to interact with the lecturers (Dabbagh et al., 2015). It will
help the students to know more about the subject and the critical learning will help to learn the
opinions and counter opinions of different writers about the subject and the particular topic. It
will increase the learning of the students. Internal knowledge of the students will increase by the
effective learning skills of the pupils. Learning about a certain subject will help to gain
confidence and the ability of expressing the feelings will be increased of the students.
Planning of report
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It increases the writing skills of the students. Planning an report increases the capability of
thinking about any topic. Students will be capable of explaining a certain topic by using proper
languages and the writing skill of the students will be improved for the organisation. It will make
the students more capable of thinking about a certain topic from a different way. Students will be
capable to apply the thinking skills and the analytical skills of the students will be improved by
planning report properly in the universities.
Getting organised in the time of study
Organisation of time is another important for improving the skills of the students. The students
should be interested enough for managing time for study and it will help them to increase the
knowledge regarding the subject (Bryant and Goswami, 2016). Study time is highly important
for the universities and the students will have to manage it. It increases personal learning. It is
helpful for the pupils to increase analytical skill and problem solving skills.
Information of sources of study
The information of the study should be collected from proper sources. Improper information will
affect negative knowledge on the students ((Midgley, 2002)). Sources are highly important for
the students to gather information. The collected information should be applied in proper areas, it
will increase the knowledge of the students, and the capability of the students will be increased
in this way.
d. Draw conclusions based on these key points.
The above points state that learning has a huge importance in the lives of the students.
Foundation year programme has created a new opportunity for the students to get a capability for
joining to get a higher degree. This course helps the students to gain knowledge about the higher
universities. It helps to connect the knowledge of schools and higher universities. This process
has some advantages and disadvantages. The major benefits of this process have been explained.
It can be concluded from the benefits of the process that the language skill of the people
improves. The foundation year course helps to provide chances to get admission in large
universities. However, this course is helpful for the students in several ways but it has several
challenges. One of the key challenges of this course is the deficit mindset of the trainers. It
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mainly focuses on the negativity. The deficits of the students are made in a course that creates
negativity within the mind of the students. The identity crisis of the students is another problem
of this course. It creates a grouping and the introvert students are feeling isolated in this course.
The trainer is not finding the existing talents of the students. It is creating another problem in the
course. It is not possible for the students to give one-year time to the course for preparation and it
is another problem of this course. All the challenges of the course can be overcome through
proper knowledge on the subject. Study skills of the students will help them to gain knowledge
about the course and it will be helpful for the students to gain confidence. The students should
apply study skills properly to mitigate the challenges of the course. Different study skills have
been provided in the report that can be nurtured to increase effectiveness of the processes in the
company.
The report has described different factors of the foundation year course and the challenges of the
course with the mitigation strategies have been explained in the course. It will help the readers to
understand about different factors of foundation year course and the importance of the course.
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