Engaging students in enhanced academic transitions: pre-arrival

In the current, changing educational landscape, with increasingly diverse student groups on programmes, traditional induction many not always be best suited to the needs of the students and programmes of study. The results of recent research carried out with internationals students have revealed that international students respond well to an extended induction, starting from pre-arrival where possible, which allows for steady development of skills, linking with peers in the UK and better integration.

This session will briefly introduce SPICE (Student Pre-arrival Induction for Continuing Education), a study skills resource designed to enhance the academic transition for international students. The rationale for the development of the resource, its aims and current use will be outlined before moving on to the evaluation of SPICE and discussion on ways forward for SPICE as well as how this resource may be available to all students and staff.

SPICE is a pilot which was partially funded by TESEP and partially by Faculty funding. The pilot project was developed for 3rd year direct entry Indian students on BA Hospitality Management programme, with the aim to trial and test it with a given group of students before taking the resource further. SPICE has now been used by 2 cohorts of students in India coming to Edinburgh Napier programme. The results are very positive and the feedback from students and staff has been very encouraging. There has been a lot of interest in SPICE within the University and externally (SPARQS, HEA).