How do they find their place? A typology of students' enculturation during the first year at a business school

Abstract

Students' experiences of their first year of studying are of prime importance for their further development in Higher Education (HE). Consequently, the first year and the related phenomena of student performance, retention, and dropout have been extensively studied. Research shows that during the first year, the individual student's ability or failure to adapt to the new socio-cultural environment influences his/her academic success. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the actual processes through which students integrate into the socio-cultural context of HE. Applying a socio-cultural approach, our qualitative interview study followed 14 university students through their first year, investigating why some students experience an easier transition into HE compared to others. Our research results in a typology of four transition types characterized by their orientation towards the socio-cultural context of studying.