Mismatch between Student Educational Expectations and Realities

Natalia Maloshonok and Evgeniy Terentev have shared their inspiration behind conducting the research on educational expectations of newcomers and the consequences of its mismatch with real activities at a university.

The research on student expectations conducted by Natalia Maloshonok and Evgeniy Terentev showed the existence of a so-called ‘freshman myth’. According to the findings, Russian students expected to spend more time on curricular and extra-curricular activities such as class attendance, additional learning related to their field of study, and scientific activities than they actually ended up spending. A large share of students overestimated their future academic performance and underestimated the potential difficulties that can occur during the first year of study at the university. In addition, almost a quarter of them reported a lack of interest in study in the middle of the second semester that was unexpected for them at the beginning of the academic year.

The full text is available at the official blog of the European Journal of Higher Education.