The Skills Centre is involved in a range of transition initiatives to help new students settle quickly into university-level study. The support is provided in response to the disruption to their studies that the 2022/23 intake of students have experienced during the pandemic.
Transition Toolkit
For the second year running, all students with offers from the University of Bath were given access to the Transition Toolkit in July. The Toolkit is a collection of online resources and activities designed to help them feel more confident about starting at university.
The Toolkit guides students through resources to help them prepare to study and live in Bath and provides practical hints and tips from current students on different aspects of transition. The Toolkit has been viewed 2,500 times since the summer.
Training Space
The Mathematics Resources Centre (MASH) has again launched its ‘Training Space’ for incoming undergraduates, this year extending it to students without A-level maths to allow every first year student to revise, prepare and practise key pre-requisite maths skills.
The tool covers topic areas from pre-University maths and is tailored to individual departments based on their first year syllabus. Training Spaces are hosted on Moodle and accessible to students three weeks before the start of the academic year.
In the academic year 2021/22, thousands of Training Space activities were completed by students from across the University, with follow-up sessions provided in-person during semester 1. Students who engaged with the Training Space were more likely to seek further support from MASH.
Passport to Study Success
As part of Student Support’s Living in a New Culture orientation programme for new international students, the Skills Centre has developed a new self-access online course called Passport to Study Success.
The interactive Moodle course, which was piloted over the summer with the international Pre-sessional students, provides an introduction to studying in the UK and the skills that are vital for academic success. It guides international students through six topic areas, including teaching and learning at Bath, academic language, critical thinking and cultural awareness. Students can self-enrol on the course using the code ‘Success’.
Get started with skills
Get started with skills brings together resources from across the Skills Centre to help new home students get the best start to their university experience. It aims to help them develop their academic skills and prepare them for academic study.
We have also compiled academic skills refresher resources for students resuming their studies after a period of suspension and for students with disabilities and learning differences as part of Disability Service’s Beginning at Bath support programme.
Transition blogs
The following recent blogs also aim to help new students transition to Bath:
- Transition to university: academic expectations
- Preparing for the mathematics you’ll need in your degree - get your ducks in a row
- Studying in the UK: my experience as an international student
Dr Emma Cliffe, Acting Joint Head of the Skills Centre, said:
We hope these online transition resources will help different groups of incoming students to settle in quickly to their studies at Bath. They all aim to build academic skills and student confidence following the disruption of the last couple of years. If you have any questions or feedback about our transition support, please contact us.
The Skills Centre’s skills development opportunities during Semester 1 are designed to support both new and returning students with their academic, maths and statistics, language and digital skills. Please encourage your students to explore these and sign up on MySkills.