Most students eagerly anticipate going to university and this enthusiasm and excitement is commendable. However, it is important to note that students have to be able to confidently and competently manage and control the change from secondary to tertiary education. We hope that schools and universities can work together so that students are better prepared for university and that they are assisted in their transition when they come to university. Monash will help. Perhaps a visiting lecturer or an academic in residence, or a module where individual learning and organisation is the emphasis.
Parents also experience the effects of their children s transition from school to university.
Many parents have been familiar with the school timetable and used to their children having to wear a school uniform, coming home at a set time and doing homework each night. Parents need to get adjusted to quite a dramatic change when their children move to university. University contact hours are, for some courses, much shorter than school hours, and students seem to have endless free time. In other cases, students seem to always be working, often into the evening and stress levels seem very high. Usually parents are very committed to their children getting through Year 12 and achieving university entrance but when students get to university some parents think that as their students are now there that they are on their own and so many parents decide to back off.