Lost in transition? Access and academic success of diverse students in higher education

During the first year in higher education, drop-out levels are relatively high as compared to following years. At Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), first-year drop-out rates varied between 16 and 20 percent in the period 2014-2018. Moreover, research shows that this percentage is higher among students who are the first in their family to study in higher education (first-generation students) and among students with a migration background. This may be due to specific difficulties that students from these backgrounds experience during their transition into higher education, a period that many students experience as challenging. A thorough understanding of the challenges experienced by diverse students during the transition into higher education, and how these students can be supported is vital, to retain them and to positively influence their academic success.

In his PhD-project, Pieter is therefore researching the barriers to academic success that first-generation students and students with a migration background face during various phases of the transition into higher education. In this project, he examines whether participation in a program prior to the first year at EUR (the ‘Pre-Academic Program’) increases retention among diverse students and whether this positively influences their academic success, how diverse social networks can positively impact academic success, and what the effect of the newly introduced admission procedure of EUR’s Psychology Bachelor is on diversity within the student population. Pieter works on his research at the Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies of the Erasmus School of Behavioral and Social Sciences.