Change one Thing: Why colleges need to know their students better

If I could change one aspect of higher education it would be a better "handshake" between second and third-
level education. This would help us enhance our services to students, especially in the crucial early stages of the transition.

All higher education institutions have slick marketing campaigns to entice the next batch of students coming from the second-level conveyor belt into higher education. But how well do we know the students we recruit?

In the institutes of technology there is still a very close relationship between staff and students as class sizes are smaller and the teaching contact hours are greater. But what do we really know?

As students join third level, we have only one identifier: the bag of points derived from their Leaving Certificate results. Within this group there will be students who were streamed in classes throughout secondary school and others who, because of school size, will not have had access to the full range of second-level subjects.

Regardless of their second-level academic experience and the Leaving Certificate achieved, the students could also have been exceptional sportspeople, musicians, actors, debaters, good with their hands, active in school leadership positions, good with their peers and have attributes and strengths that have yet to be identified as they complete their maturing process. Such information is available to higher-education institutions in the UK in the form of personal statements submitted by students as part of their applications. If it was available here it would help us to contextualise academic results and ease the crucial transition into higher education. Specifically it would give a more holistic view of the students joining us. It may allow us to understand the motivation of the students and could support a proactive retention policy within institutes to help students through that initial transition phase. Some higher education institutions have identified the first seven weeks as vital in determining a student’s success in their higher education trajectory, and the provision of more relevant information could help all stakeholders to work together to smooth that engagement.

The recently-launched Irish Survey of Student Engagement (ISSE) will help us to better know our students. For example, the ISSE specifically asks first-year students about their overall experience of college life and how engaged they are with the higher education experience. It is critical that we correctly analyse what our students tell us and use that information to improve all of our academic and support services. If we can successfully link the ISSE project with the work of the new Teaching and Learning Forum, we will improve the outcomes for students.

So when we gather our thoughts as higher-education policymakers, funders, administrators or lecturers for our next strategy document, or our next lecture, let’s remember that this is first and foremost about our students. We must move away from the mantras that students are not like they used to be, that they lack the relevant skills or that we are preparing them for emigration. We must be positive for all our students coming to us from the Leaving Certificate and bring about some small changes that will continue to help them to achieve their hopes and aspirations.

In years to come, I hope our graduates will look back fondly not only on their academic experience within our higher education institutions, but also on the life-long friends they will have made and the experiences they shared.

Paul Hannigan is president of Letterkenny Institute of Technology and chairman of Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI)