Wright State Goes To Anglia Ruskin: Insight into Welcome Week

Last week and yesterday were filled with meetings so I could get a better idea of how the welcome week is currently going at Anglia Ruskin from the standpoint of staff and students. I was able to conduct a focus group with staff on their feelings towards and opinions of Freshers Week (aka welcome week). Since English universities have to wait so long until they know with certainty who will be attending their university, they don't have the luxury American colleges do to hold orientation throughout the entire summer.

The staff doesn’t know for sure who is going to attend until the day of the event. This has to do with England's admissions process where students don't get the results to their A-levels until the middle of the summer. Freshers Week in England is also set up so that there are typically three units involved in planning activities for students - Student Services, the Student Union, and each Faculty (similar to our colleges). Coordinating all of these schedules and communicating them to the students can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

I have been impressed with the number of ideas I have learned from not only my research but the individuals I have spoken with as well. The overarching question is how do we engage students, especially non-traditional students? This is a question we in the United States are facing as well. Non-traditional students tend to have outside commitments that demand their time. While they may want social activities, the reality is they may not have the time to engage in social activities. The goal seems to be balance - balancing what they want to do with what they need to do. This is the charge of the university. Having come from a background of largely commuter campuses with a high percentage of non-traditional students, I have empathy for these students and want to create the best possible experience for them. Sometimes this means knowing not all activities are going to work for all people, but the idea is to keep trying. That is what I have learned most from this experience, just keep trying!

This weekend I went to London, below are pictures from my trip ... enjoy!

The Horse Guards of Buckingham Palace