ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the expectations and culture that first-year students encounter when entering higher education. Induction activities are the first encounter with the new institutional setting and cultural context of the study programme, thus the students’ first opportunity to develop ideas about what studying entails and what is expected of them. The study is based on data produced through participant observations in induction activities, and interviews with the senior students organising these activities, for the following three study programmes at a Danish university: biotechnology, philosophy, and film and media studies. By applying the concepts of rituals, the implied student and students’ identity work, the analysis explores a ritual within each programme. The findings show that the rituals reflect patterns and cultural elements that the students also experience later on in their first year. The rituals differ in how they relate to the content of the programme and which available identities they present to the students. However, in all three programmes, senior students play a key role in communicating norms and traditions. We argue that although transitioning is an ongoing process throughout higher education, it is still relevant to consider what happens during induction and what is communicated to the students.

摘要

本文调查了一年级学生在进入高等教育时遇到的期望和文化。入会活动是第一次接触新的机构环境和学习计划的文化背景，因此学生第一次有机会就学习的意义和对他们的期望发展想法。该研究基于在入会活动中的参与者观察以及对组织这些活动的高年级学生的采访所产生的数据，用于丹麦大学的以下三个学习项目：生物技术、哲学、电影和媒体研究。通过应用仪式的概念、隐含的学生和学生的身份工作，分析探索了每个课程中的仪式。研究结果表明，这些仪式反映了学生在第一年晚些时候也会经历的模式和文化元素。这些仪式的不同之处在于它们与课程内容的关系以及它们向学生展示的可用身份。然而，在所有三个项目中，高年级学生在传播规范和传统方面发挥着关键作用。我们认为，虽然过渡是整个高等教育的一个持续过程，但考虑在入学期间发生的事情以及与学生沟通的内容仍然是相关的。