TY - JOUR
T1 - A qualitative exploration on the challenges of transfer students in an asian educational context
AU - Ching, Shirley Siu Yin
AU - Tam, Kin Yuen
AU - Zhang, Lillian Weiwei
AU - Ng, Jeremy
AU - Cheung, Kin
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was funded by the University Grant Committee (UGC) Funding Scheme for Teaching and Learning Related Proposals (2016-19 Triennium) (PolyU6/T&L/16-19). The funder did not have any role in the design, methods, analysis, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3/21
Y1 - 2021/3/21
N2 - Limited research has been conducted on community college (CC) transfer students’ (TS) experiences in four-year universities, particularly in Asian contexts. To fill this research gap, in this qualitative study, 124 TS from various disciplines in a Hong Kong university participated in 39 focus groups and seven individual interviews. Unlike their Western counterparts, our TS were relatively better prepared and more academically adaptive. Nevertheless, their social integration was restricted by a lack of time for extra-curricular activities, a sense of inferiority and incompetence, and restricted social circles that did not enable interaction with non-TS. These challenges and their implications are discussed. In particular, this study has highlighted differences between the special education systems for CC transfer in Hong Kong and those in Western CC models. The study has also highlighted the study-induced stress, and poor self-perceptions that TS experience, despite their academic abilities.
AB - Limited research has been conducted on community college (CC) transfer students’ (TS) experiences in four-year universities, particularly in Asian contexts. To fill this research gap, in this qualitative study, 124 TS from various disciplines in a Hong Kong university participated in 39 focus groups and seven individual interviews. Unlike their Western counterparts, our TS were relatively better prepared and more academically adaptive. Nevertheless, their social integration was restricted by a lack of time for extra-curricular activities, a sense of inferiority and incompetence, and restricted social circles that did not enable interaction with non-TS. These challenges and their implications are discussed. In particular, this study has highlighted differences between the special education systems for CC transfer in Hong Kong and those in Western CC models. The study has also highlighted the study-induced stress, and poor self-perceptions that TS experience, despite their academic abilities.
KW - Academic adjustment
KW - Higher education in Asia
KW - Psychological well-being
KW - Self-identity
KW - Social integration
KW - Transfer students
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102693108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18063238
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18063238
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 33800988
AN - SCOPUS:85102693108
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 18
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 6
M1 - 3238
ER -
