Recommendations for use

Welcome! Student starter kit is a collection of videos designed to support new students in their transition into university life. By using digital technology, first-year students will be able to prepare for university independently before they step onto campus. The digital design of this project will enable them to increase their academic skills by offering more active, fun, and flexible student-focused learning.

The starter kit is not a guideline answering all the questions about how to be a student but a resource to make future students explore different sides of student life and reflect on their expectations.

Are you going to be a student for the first time?
Before you start studying:

Visit Welcome! Student starter kit before you start your studies to learn more about how it is to be a student and how to study.
Do you have further questions about student life? Maybe your school has a study councelor or you have friends and family who have studied and can tell you more. Many universities have open days where you can learn more about the programs and social activities they offer.

After you have started studying:

Revisit the student starter kit as you encounter some of the topics addressed in the videos. Download the material you find useful and keep it during your studies.
Get to know the people at your university who can give you more information about your program and student life.

Are you working with high-school students?
Use Welcome! Student starter kit to prepare future students for university life by acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences needed to succeed in higher education.

Familiarise your students with the content of the student starter kit before they graduate. This can demystify university life, help your students to get motivated them, and give them confidence to apply for a study program. Pay particular attention to groups of high-school students who do not have close family with tertiary education.
Use the content to prepare students for the next chapter in their lives by discussing their expectations and their insecurities regarding higher education. Do they have follow-up questions about the different topics after watching the videos?
Together with your students, reflect over topics such as study techniques, time management, or academic writing to help your students create good working and writing routines before they have to figure out these topics on their own.
Invite students from your local university and let them talk about how it is to be a student.
Use your social media channels to reach students at your school thinking of entering higher education.

Are you working with high-school students?
Use Welcome! Student starter kit to support your first-year students in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences needed to succeed in higher education.

To inform the students about the starter kit,

send out information about it as early as possible, for instance with acceptance letters or welcome letters or on learning management platforms. Include a brief description of what the starter kit is and how you would like your new students to use it. You are welcome to copy the recommendations for students above.
Introduce Welcome! Student starter kit during orientation days to prepare future students for social and academic life at university by familiarizing them with core life and academic skills needed for student success.
involve student organizations. They have a good connection with new students!
use your social media channels to reach future and first-year students.

As a teacher,

introduce Welcome! Student starter kit to new students and have an open discussion about expectations: What do you expect from the students? What do the students expect from you?
give your students time to get familiar with the university system. In the beginning of their studies, first-year students are often occupied with several aspects besides academic topics, such as finding housing, finding new friends, getting familiar with living on their own, and getting to know their new city and the campus.
being aware of and addressing differences between secondary and tertiary education can help the students in their transition into university, for instance when teaching academic writing to your students. Which knowledge do they already have? What is expected now at university and similar or different to writing in high school? This will help your students to identify where they are and what they have to work on.
to build inclusive higher education systems, pay particular attention to groups of students who are first-generation university students, students of immigrant background, students coming back to school after having worked and/or raised families for years, and students accessing distance education.