@phdthesis{01J58C3G72CDWY4AM169E7FN42,
  abstract     = {{The transition from secondary to higher education presents substantial challenges for first-year students, encompassing significant adjustments and disruptively changing responsibilities, roles, and expectations. In navigating change during this critical period of transition, students often cope with various academic, institutional, social, and personal-emotional stressors. Understanding and supporting incoming first-year students early on is crucial, as their well-being during this transitional period is pivotal for their academic success. Well-being, a central concern in educational research and policy, influences students' ability to cope with transitional challenges and to engage meaningfully in the new educational environment. Institutions bear a responsibility for fostering supportive environments conducive to a successful transition to higher education, thereby contributing to students’ well-being and academic success.
Recognising the importance of well-being as well as the key role institutions play in supporting students’ well-being and transition to higher education, this dissertation addresses two overarching research objectives (RO): monitoring changes in the well-being of first-year students in higher education and investigating how well-being relates to challenging circumstances (RO1) and exploring and evaluating an orientation day as a targeted initiative to support students’ well-being and transition to higher education (RO2). As such, the added value of this doctoral research lies in the combination of its two research objectives: measuring the as-is of first-year student well-being through RO1 and aiming to achieve an improved to-be through RO2. 
The first research objective (RO1) focuses on monitoring the well-being and transition of first-year students during their initial period in higher education. This objective reflects the need to understand how students’ transition is affected by challenging circumstances (i.e. COVID-19, the first examination period in higher education) and how these challenges influence their well-being. The first empirical study of this dissertation examines the effects of the challenging circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic on student well-being and transition. Next to well-being, this study measures students’ academic confidence, feeling of informedness, and self-efficacy. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses are combined to, on the one hand, compare a pre-covid student cohort and a covid-affected student cohort and, on the other hand, examine the covid-affected student cohort over time. Cross-sectional analyses demonstrate no significant negative effects of COVID-19 at the start of the academic year, but a negative effect three weeks later. Furthermore, longitudinal analyses indicate significant changes in students’ well-being and self-efficacy throughout the first year of higher education: significant declines over the course of the first semester, followed by a slight recovery at the start of the second semester.
The second empirical study of this dissertation covers the first examination period as a challenging and disruptive circumstance for first-year students to cope with. This study builds further upon the longitudinal findings of the first study, continuing to contribute to RO1 by means of a longitudinal quantitative investigation of student well-being and self-efficacy throughout the academic year. This study specifically investigates how changes in well-being and self-efficacy relate to course performance in the first examination period in higher education. Due to the longitudinal design, the bidirectional relationship between, on the one hand, student well-being and self-efficacy and, on the other hand, their course performance is examined. The findings indicate that well-being a few weeks before the examination period positively affects students’ course performance. Furthermore, better course performance leads to higher well-being and self-efficacy at the start of the next semester, as well as elevated well-being and self-efficacy in comparison with the previous semester. This study therefore adds to understanding how students’ transition relates to academic success and how well-being and self-efficacy coevolve with specific challenging events.
Through its second research objective (RO2), this dissertation explores and evaluates a targeted orientation day as a way of supporting students' well-being and transition. This objective stems from the recognition that well-designed support initiatives at students’ initial moments in higher education can effectively alleviate the challenges of transitioning to higher education and, as such, enhance their well-being. As a third empirical study of this dissertation, a qualitative instructional case study presents a theory-informed, intentionally designed, and empirically evaluated game-based orientation day. This study presents the design principles of the orientation day, founded in educational theory and carefully put into practice. Furthermore, empirical insights are offered into the feasibility and suitability of the orientation day by means of qualitative survey data. Thematic analysis scrutinises students’ experiences with the orientation day as well as prominent strengths they identified, including social integration, active learning, and faculty-student connections. These results elucidate important aspects and potential benefits of highly interactive orientation days for first-year students to support and enhance their transition to higher education.
The fourth and final empirical study of this dissertation builds upon the preceding study and addresses RO2 by means of an intervention study, assessing the effectiveness of the aforementioned orientation day. This study presents an empirical quantitative comparison of the game-based orientation day with a lecture-based orientation day, which serves as a control treatment. The effectiveness of the highly interactive and theory-informed game-based orientation day is measured in terms of students’ well-being and feeling of informedness, both at the moment of the orientation day and three weeks later. Cross-sectional results demonstrate that the game-based orientation day is more effective in supporting well-being than the lecture-based orientation day, and at least equally effective in informing students. The findings contribute to the idea that, even given the current challenges in contemporary higher education, interactive and deliberately designed orientation days are necessary to foster first-year students’ well-being and transition.
This doctoral research is conducted at Ghent University (Belgium), an open-admission institution characterised by a vast degree of subsidisation, very few barriers to entry, limited institutional resources, high dropout rates, and large and heterogeneous student populations. First-year students in an open-admission system are thus greatly diverse in their needs for additional support and their ease of adjusting to the higher education context. These context and student characteristics provide a rich empirical setting for investigating students’ well-being during their transition to higher education and the inherent challenges in this critical period. In the context of this open-admission system, many students struggle to adjust to the academic environment, leading to dropout. This is a costly problem for individual students, higher education institutions, the government, and society as a whole, taking into account the high level of subsidisation of higher education in Belgium. These issues are not unique to Belgium; similar challenges exist in other European countries and globally, particularly in institutions adopting policies to widen participation. Underrepresented student groups often face greater difficulties and lower well-being during the transition to higher education, necessitating inclusive support initiatives for the entire first-year student body. This doctoral research emphasises the importance of providing targeted orientation initiatives as well as continuing support for all incoming students to support their well-being and academic success.
This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with the transition to higher education. Moreover, suggestions are offered for supporting students' well-being and academic success. By monitoring student well-being and evaluating orientation initiatives, this dissertation contributes to educational theory, practice, and policy, aiming to enhance student success in higher education. Synthesising insights gained from the four empirical studies, the doctoral research provides contributions to the academic discourse on first-year student transition as well as actionable recommendations for educators and policymakers. The implications surpass the specific research context of this dissertation, encouraging institutions to reassess how to support first-year students and their well-being. This doctoral research seeks to initiate conversations and innovative ideas on how to support first-year students as they navigate change during their transition to higher education.}},
  author       = {{Vanderstraeten, Lize}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{XXX, 299}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Navigating change during the transition to higher education : evidence on student well-being and orientation initiatives in economics and business education}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}