The drive for this project was a statement made by the National Audit Office (2007) that as a group, students studying STEM disciplines are less likely to progress to the next year of study than other students. This claim underpinned the work of the project which aimed to explore and enhance the transition and induction experiences of students starting on STEM programmes in the SW region in order to inform and encourage the development of more inclusive transition and induction programmes.  

The project set out to explore existing practice in the SW region and through a series of seminars offering opportunities for sharing experience and knowledge. The seminar keynotes and other invited speakers provided an opportunity to learn from research and practice, and also offered an opportunity to gain tailored information and guidance in specialist areas such as Aspergers Syndrome and Equality legislation. In particular, work around establishing Maths Cafes as a model of support arose from these seminars. The accompanying briefing documents to the seminars provided an opportunity to learn about other initiatives taking place in the wider HE sector - for example, the experience of transition to HE for Care Leavers, and peer mentoring for students with a disability.

A further aim of the project was to learn from Meet the Scientist Ambassadors and STEM Ambassadors who have worked closely with young people in the school environment, in order to learn from their insights into the expectations and barriers that young people may experience with regards transition to HE - this resulted in the Do Scientists Really Exist? case study. In addition, voices of project participants interested in student transition were captured in a creative learning journey. 

Finally, the findings from the seminars and the ambassador study led to the development of good practice guidelines with a particular focus on social and academic integration to enhance transition and induction experiences of new students on HE STEM programmes in the SW region.

The final report for the project can be downloaded below: