Analysis

The trouble with transition

By 2015-10-08T13:18:00

Transition from school shutterstock 211945042 630m[1]

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Kristy Turner examines the difficulties students have adapting to studying at university

It's October and the last of the freshers have arrived in their halls and lecture theatres, eager to embark on their university courses. But for some of those students, their adventure into the academic world will be short lived.

The physical sciences don’t appear to have particularly high dropout rates – the most recent data for English universities puts the dropout rate at 5.4% for young entrants. But considering the number of students enrolling in degrees in the physical sciences then this represents a lot of potential scientists who fail to complete their degrees.

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