Abstract
Academic achievement is regarded an indicator of the success of individuals, schools, universities and countries. ‘Success’ is typically measured using performance indicators such as test results, completion rates and other objective measures. By contrast, in this article we explore students’ subjective understandings and constructions of success, and discourses about ‘successful’ students in higher education contexts that are renowned for being demanding and pressured. We draw on data from 87 semi-structured interviews with students and staff on law, medicine and engineering physics programmes in a prestigious university in Sweden. We focus particularly upon academic expectations, effort levels, and programme structures and cultures. Achieving top grades while undertaking a range of extracurricular activities was valorised in all contexts. Top grades were especially impressive if they were attained without much effort (especially in engineering physics) or stress (especially in law and medicine); we introduce a new concept of ‘stress-less achievement’ in relation to the latter. Furthermore, being sociable as well as a high academic achiever signified living a ‘good life’ and, in law and medicine, professional competence. We discuss the implications of the dominant constructions of success, concluding that (upper) middle-class men are most likely to be read as ‘successful students’, especially in engineering physics.
Highlights
Success is something that, as a concept, remains universal in its appeal and motivation for attainment, whilst seeming consistently to lack definition (Hannon, Smith, and Lã 2017, 257)There is a vast body of research on success in higher education (H.E.): a Google Scholar search using the words ‘student success in higher education’ generated over three million results
We suggest that while in many ways effortless achievement may be seen as the pinnacle of success, in the contexts of these programmes – especially law and medicine – it is seen as largely unattainable
Pressures to be successful academically are intense in a climate where very high value is attached to credentials, and competition for graduate-level jobs is fierce
Summary
As a concept, remains universal in its appeal and motivation for attainment, whilst seeming consistently to lack definition (Hannon, Smith, and Lã 2017, 257). Amanda’s (medical student) comment that ‘it feels like it’s [high] status to get a high result based on little study-time’ reflected the views of the majority of our interviewees This accords with previous research suggesting that ‘effortless’ academic achievement is equated with intelligence or talent in many western societies, and being intelligent or talented is highly valued in and outside of educational contexts (Bourdieu and Passeron 1979; Power et al 1998; Walkerdine, Lucey, and Melody 2001; Jackson and Nyström 2015; Nyström 2014; Brown et al 2016). Overall, demonstrating good morals and ‘people’ skills were, like top grades in law, a prerequisite for being considered ‘successful’ in medicine
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