Exploring factors facilitating and hindering college-university Pathway Program completion

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore not only the academic measures such as grade point average of success of college-to-university transfer programs (Pathway Programs), but also the social-cultural facilitators and barriers throughout the students’ Pathway experience. Design/methodology/approach – The experience of students and academic advisors moving between Queensdale College and North Star University (NSU) (pseudonyms) were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach including analysis of data from online surveys, secondary data (course performance), and focus group interviews. Findings – Students who are able to enter the Pathway Programs at NSU perform on average better than their four-year traditional program peers. There remain a number of social-cultural barrier which need to be addressed to improve the overall experience of these transfer students. Practical implications – The results from this study will assist the administrative decision makers in designing Pathways and their associated communication plans in order to meet the needs of the students with tools and supports that are both perceived by the students as valuable and are improving their Pathway experience and ultimately their academic performance. Originality/value – The move to develop Pathway Programs in Ontario is a new phenomenon, even in provinces where this is more common, few studies exist which consider the social-cultural aspects of the student journey between the two institutions. This study moves beyond the standard academic performance data and provides insight into the critical role played by the social aspects in higher education experiences.

Gender diversity indices for interpreting the phenomena in expanding higher education

“…Although science is inherently gender-blind, there are structural barriers that prevent gender equality and permit women to feel out of place in STEM programs (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999;Smith, 2011;Sonnert et al, 2007;Ukpong, 2017). Percival et al (2016) indicated that most of the pathway students who participated in focus groups and personal interviews indicated they had experienced some transitional issues that were predominantly socio-cultural in nature. In this sense, this study can extend the theory of cultural barriers to interpret the phenomena of participation.…”

Exploring Faculty Perspectives on College-to-University Transfer in a Large Canadian University

“…So while there seems to be indirect suggestionreported by college professors, university administrators, and transfer studentsthat university faculty perceive that students coming from community colleges are not well prepared for university courses, is there evidence to support this? Percival et al (2016) and DeWine et al ( 2017) both summarize a number of studies which suggest that students transferring from colleges to universities experience an initial drop in their grades upon arrival at the university, a phenomenon referred to as transfer shock. However, there is also a growing body of evidence to indicate that these students bounce back after a semester or two (e.g., Stewart & Martinello, 2012).…”

“…6-7). There are numerous reports of frustration on the part of students, administrators, and college professors caused by inconsistent, confusing or incorrect information being distributed about transfer programs (Andres, 2001;Arnold, 2011;Carter, Coyle, & Leslie, 2011;Percival et al, 2016), or about information being simply too hard to find (Gerhardt & Ackerman, 2014). When describing the situation in the European Higher Education Area, Fernández Díaz et al ( 2010) comment that the provision of appropriate information is one of the most fundamental strategies that help to foster a positive attitude toward change among faculty.…”

“…Related to this is the lack of consistency in terminology, noted by both Percival et al (2016) and Kennepohl, the latter of whom insists on the need for pathway programs to be described "in a common language that is understood by both sending and receiving institutions" (2016, p. 155). Meanwhile, with regard to the impenetrability of the information describing the transfer process, this is even more pronounced for those with an additional language barrier (e.g., non-native speakers), who have found that "transfer applications and directions were often too difficult to comprehend" (Arnold, 2011, p. 12).…”

“…Both Kisker (2007) and Percival et al (2016) point to yet another gap: the majority of existing studies are quantitative in nature, focusing on transfer rates, grade point average patterns and withdrawal rates (e.g., Gerhardt & Masakure, 2016;Stewart & Martinello, 2012). In contrast, comparatively few studies focus on social-cultural aspects such as detailing lived experiences, and those that do take this approach tend to focus on the student experience, rather than on the faculty experience.…”