Edinburgh Napier University

  This study shares the findings of a comparative case study, examining support for students transitioning from further education institutes (FEIs) to advanced entry in university. This case study compares transition support in two different subject areas within Edinburgh Napier University: the Business School, where a new transition programme supported a cohort of 228 articulating students joining 30 different programmes in years 2, 3 and 4; and the School of Computing, whose transition programme has been running since 2013 and in 2016/17 saw over 250 students join 16 programmes across the school. The paper explains how these transition programmes were co-created with student input (through surveys, focus groups and direct involvement) at each stage of their development, supported by analyses of primary and secondary data and literature. We identify the types of support that worked well across both cohorts and establish that context-specific factors played little relevance. This paper shares both best practice and pitfalls to avoid, in helping students make successful transitions from FEIs to university.