Factors Affecting Direct and Transfer Entrants' Active Coping and Satisfaction with the University.

Psychological wellbeing is vital to public health. University students are the future backbone of the society. Direct and transfer entrants might encounter different adjustment issues in their transition from secondary school or community college to university studies. However, worldwide, the factors affecting their active coping and satisfaction with the university are currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to address this gap. Nine-hundred-and-seventy-eight direct entrants and 841 transfer entrants, recruited by convenience sampling, completed a cross-sectional survey study in 2018. A valid and reliable Hong Kong modified Laanan-Transfer Student Questionnaire (HKML-TSQ) was used to collect data. Multiple methods of quantitative data analysis were employed, including factor analyses, test of model fit, t-tests, correlations, and linear regression. The results showed that the transfer entrants had relatively less desirable experiences in their adjusting processes than did the direct entrants. There was evidence of both common and different factors affecting the two groups' active coping and satisfaction with the university. Different stakeholders from community colleges, universities, and student bodies should work collaboratively to improve students' transitional experiences before, during and after admission to the university.

Differences in study workload stress and its associated factors between transfer students and freshmen entrants in an Asian higher education context.

Unlike the studies of freshmen entrants, the learning experiences of community college transfer (CCT) students in the receiving university is a topic that has only started to gain attention in recent decades. Little is known about the differences between CCT and freshmen entrants with regard to their study workload stress and its relationship with their perceptions of the teaching and learning environment, approaches to learning, self-efficacy and generic skills. The purpose of our study was to address this gap. This was a cross-sectional survey study conducted from April 2018 to November 2018 in a university in Hong Kong. The HowULearn questionnaire was adapted to local usage and validated for data collection. In total, 841 CCT students and 978 freshmen entrants completed the survey. The respondents were aged between 19 and 52 years (mean = 21.6, SD = 1.92), and 66.0% were women. The HowULearn questionnaire was determined by factor analyses to have eight factors. The reliabilities of the eight factors were found to be acceptable (Cronbach alphas = 0.709-0.918). The CCT students scored significantly higher than the freshmen entrants for perceived study workload stress and surface approaches to learning, but lower on teaching for understanding & encouraging learning, peer support, and self-efficacy beliefs. The surface approach to learning, deep & organized studying, alignment & constructive feedback, and generic skills were found to be predictors of study workload stress in both groups of students, and in the overall student data. This study has shown that CCT students and freshmen entrants differed with regard to their study workload stress and learning experiences. Our findings provide a message, both for educators in higher education and policy makers in the government-there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to different student populations when it comes to enhancing their learning experiences.