Have a relationship with a fresher

Now, it's a very very long time since I was a fresher and so my reflections are tinged with mild dementia, willful amnesia and the rosy glow that experience of life brings to almost everything.

Today's fresher, however, arriving at University,

• Perhaps, for the first time, living away from home
• Perhaps, for the first time, with loan (i.e. someone else's non-earned) cash in the bank and
• Certainly, for the first time, being expected to determine his or her own priorities,

is beset with so many different choices, smells, sounds and temptations that the purpose of being at University - Learning, can be a distant but tangible consideration in that heady week of wonderful independence.

So forgive the freshers their hangovers, their inattention and their confusion.

Rather, pick up that learning relationship that started when the student saw the brochure, the web page or came to an Open Day, support the transition to academic study as and when it is needed and develop that relationship so that the student (as bemused about what might constitute a "good 2(i) or "merit" level of work" as many staff members) develops over time.  Students should not be expected to know and understand what it means to "read for a degree" on arrival - it's not 3 more years of school, it's a relationship that lasts a lifetime (if Universities get it right).