Differences in study workload stress and its associated factors between transfer students and freshmen entrants in an Asian higher education context

Abstract

Unlike the studies of freshmen entrants, the learning experiences of community college transfer (CCT) students in the receiving university is a topic that has only started to gain attention in recent decades. Little is known about the differences between CCT and freshmen entrants with regard to their study workload stress and its relationship with their perceptions of the teaching and learning environment, approaches to learning, self-efficacy and generic skills. The purpose of our study was to address this gap. This was a cross-sectional survey study conducted from April 2018 to November 2018 in a university in Hong Kong. The HowULearn questionnaire was adapted to local usage and validated for data collection. In total, 841 CCT students and 978 freshmen entrants completed the survey. The respondents were aged between 19 and 52 years (mean = 21.6, SD = 1.92), and 66.0% were women. The HowULearn questionnaire was determined by factor analyses to have eight factors. The reliabilities of the eight factors were found to be acceptable (Cronbach alphas = 0.709-0.918). The CCT students scored significantly higher than the freshmen entrants for perceived study workload stress and surface approaches to learning, but lower on teaching for understanding & encouraging learning, peer support, and self-efficacy beliefs. The surface approach to learning, deep & organized studying, alignment & constructive feedback, and generic skills were found to be predictors of study workload stress in both groups of students, and in the overall student data. This study has shown that CCT students and freshmen entrants differed with regard to their study workload stress and learning experiences. Our findings provide a message, both for educators in higher education and policy makers in the government-there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to different student populations when it comes to enhancing their learning experiences.

A Qualitative Exploration on the Challenges of Transfer Students in an Asian Educational Context

“…In this study, transferring from two-year CCs to four-year universities brought about both academic and social challenges to CC TS. This corroborates previous quantitative studies of TS’ experiences in both Western [ 11 , 17 ] and Asian educational contexts [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Nonetheless, the TS in this study were still inclined to interact only with other TS. On one hand, these qualitative findings further explain our quantitative results [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]—their self-stigmatizing sense of incompetence and inferiority already prevented them from reaching out to other students whom they deemed “stronger” but were in fact not necessarily so. This implies that more educational and psychological supports are needed to inform TS about the empirical evidence on how the academic performances of the two student subpopulations have been shown to be statistically similar [ 66 , 67 ].…”

“…Due to the growing aspirations of CC graduates to pursue bachelor’s degrees in university (also known as “four-year institutions” in the literature), the size of the CC transfer student (TS) population has been booming over the past decade [ 1 , 3 ]. This calls for more attention to CC TS through identifying their characteristics and needs [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Although there is no shortage of quantitative studies on this subpopulation of university students, particularly in the West, few qualitative studies have been conducted worldwide to understand their transfer experiences.…”

“…Furthermore, in Hong Kong CC are largely perceived as the stepping stone for entering university [ 39 , 40 ], as opposed to CC in other parts of the world that primarily aim at democratizing and improving the affordability of higher education [ 41 , 42 ]. Pioneering quantitative research on TS in the Asian educational context, the authors [ 5 , 6 , 7 ] have conducted an institution-wide questionnaire survey in the university with the largest number of TS in Hong Kong, yielding that TS tend to experience obstacles with credit transfer, to experience transfer shock, to have heavier study loads and mental health issues, to be less active in participating in social and extra-curricular activities, and to show self-stigmatization. However, not much is known about the current learning experiences and challenges of TS across various disciplines.…”

Exploring Coping Strategies of Transfer Students Joining Universities From Colleges

“…Joining the later years of a programme already in-progress means that transfer students immediately enter the assessment environment as it becomes high-stakes, each module grade contributing to their final degree classification. At the same time, they may also be managing other responsibilities, such as part-time or even full-time employment (Kember, 1999), putting transfer students at increased risk of feeling disengaged from their university experience (Cheung et al, 2020). Without the same institutional safety net as that provided for year one students, transfer students have been found to develop a range of coping strategies including approaching learning in a more surface, instrumental way, or drawing strength from a sense of group belonging (Sanchez-Gelabert et al, 2017).…”