Bridges (2004) defines a transition as “a natural process of disorientation or re-orientation” marking the turning points of life (p. 3). One such turning point that has recently attracted the attention of higher education is the shift from university to life-after-study. Some universities, especially in the U.S., have developed programmes and courses to help prepare and support students for this transition. However, most of these educational initiatives have been developed without empirical research that explores graduates’ needs. In this research, therefore, I have sought to understand the experiences and perspectives of recent graduates in the post-university transition with the hope that this may inform potential institutional practices. Twenty young, recent graduates, who were broadly representative of their (U.S.) university’s student population in terms of degree, gender, and ethnicity, were selected to participate in this research. They engaged in recorded, semi-structured interviews and email interviews over a six-month period. Transcripts of interviews were analysed using typical qualitative procedures informed by interpretivism, symbolic interactionism, naturalistic inquiry, and narrativity. Results indicated that despite individual variability, participants shared some common perspectives. Four main themes emerged from the data. Three illustrated the difficulty of the post-university transition (shifting identities, searching, and unmet expectations), but the fourth illustrated how participants used people and resources (stabilisers) to foster support and balance in their transition. Furthermore, participants offered a range of suggestions about ways their institution might help graduating students better prepare for this transition and life-after-university. Recommendations based on these suggestions provide ideas for career preparation, emotional support, and practical life skills that institutions might choose to implement.

This study set out to understand what the views of a group of student teachers of the University of Pretoria on the role of the university are, and how and why these views emerged. A qualitative exploratory case study design was followed. The social philosophy of higher education of Ronald Barnett was chosen as a theoretical framework. Convenient sampling was applied and arts-informed methods such as drawings and photovoice, combined with in-depth semi-structured individual interviews and field-notes from observations, were research methods used for data construction. ATLAS.ti 8™ software was used and member reflections, reflections with my supervisor, denotation and connotation of drawings and photovoice techniques were used as general research methods for the data analysis. This study found that student teachers predominantly stand for an ontological role of the university that advocates the development of students as persons, their social skills, cultural and racial tolerance, compassion, empathy rather than a predominant role of the university that emphasises epistemological aspects such as teaching/learning, doing research or merely degree accreditation. It was affirmed that the intellectual communities of students and lecturers are a distinctive part of what it means to be a university. The student teachers argued for a more comprehensive concept of critical thinking that has a practical, experiential and relevant relationship with the world. While there has been extensive research on the traditional roles of the university, this study makes the claim that the university has a role to fill in the after-school educational gap that is a result of poor schooling in South Africa. The study makes the claim that the causes that explain the student views are constructed based on their family relationships and their life and educational experiences inside and outside schools or universities which at times surpassed the intellectual role of the university. The student teachers of this study, as part of a supercomplex world, recognize the university-knowledge relationship but stand for a new nature of this relationship. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.15022473.v1 / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

Este trabalho teve início numa investigação de resultados do ensino a distância como estratégia de ampliação do acesso ao ensino superior e de formação de professores para a educação básica. Durante o percurso, evidenciouse que não se poderia fazer a crítica dos resultados quantitativos favoráveis e dos resultados qualitativos desfavoráveis no contexto específico do ensino a distância mediado por tecnologias, porque esses resultados reproduziam o desempenho da educação brasileira como um todo, seja \'de perto\', seja \'a distância\', e se inscreviam num contexto muito mais complexo do que a falsa polêmica da presencialidade versus virtualidade. Identifica-se nas dualidades estruturais históricas do sistema educacional brasileiro, na assunção - por vezes assumida, por vezes sutil - de um projeto de educação alinhado às necessidades e caprichos do mercado - e na ausência de diálogo objetivo e subjetivo entre a Universidade e o ensino básico dimensões importantes do problema educacional do país. Propõe-se uma urgente reinvenção do diálogo sobre e na educação, e especificamente uma ação comunicativo-pedagógica na instância da educação tecnológica representada pelas FATECs - Faculdades de Tecnologia do Estado de São Paulo - a ser implementada pela Coordenação de Ensino Superior do Centro Paula Souza. / This paper began with an investigation of the results of distance education as an strategy of boardening the access to higher education and basic education formation for teachers. During this time, it became clear that the criticism of the quantitative positive results and of the negative ones couldn\'t be done, because these results mirrored the Brazilian education as a whole, from up close or far away, and they were inserted in a much more complex context than the false polemics of virtuality vs presence. It is identified in the historic structural dualities of the Brazilian educational system, in the assumption - usually subtile - of a educational Project aligned to the self centered necessities of the Market - and in the absence of objective dialogue about technological education and inside techonological education represented by the FATECs - Faculdade de Tecnologia do Estado de São Paulo - to be implemented by the coordination of higher education of Centro Paula Souza

Este trabalho teve início numa investigação de resultados do ensino a distância como estratégia de ampliação do acesso ao ensino superior e de formação de professores para a educação básica. Durante o percurso, evidenciouse que não se poderia fazer a crítica dos resultados quantitativos favoráveis e dos resultados qualitativos desfavoráveis no contexto específico do ensino a distância mediado por tecnologias, porque esses resultados reproduziam o desempenho da educação brasileira como um todo, seja \'de perto\', seja \'a distância\', e se inscreviam num contexto muito mais complexo do que a falsa polêmica da presencialidade versus virtualidade. Identifica-se nas dualidades estruturais históricas do sistema educacional brasileiro, na assunção - por vezes assumida, por vezes sutil - de um projeto de educação alinhado às necessidades e caprichos do mercado - e na ausência de diálogo objetivo e subjetivo entre a Universidade e o ensino básico dimensões importantes do problema educacional do país. Propõe-se uma urgente reinvenção do diálogo sobre e na educação, e especificamente uma ação comunicativo-pedagógica na instância da educação tecnológica representada pelas FATECs - Faculdades de Tecnologia do Estado de São Paulo - a ser implementada pela Coordenação de Ensino Superior do Centro Paula Souza. / This paper began with an investigation of the results of distance education as an strategy of boardening the access to higher education and basic education formation for teachers. During this time, it became clear that the criticism of the quantitative positive results and of the negative ones couldn\'t be done, because these results mirrored the Brazilian education as a whole, from up close or far away, and they were inserted in a much more complex context than the false polemics of virtuality vs presence. It is identified in the historic structural dualities of the Brazilian educational system, in the assumption - usually subtile - of a educational Project aligned to the self centered necessities of the Market - and in the absence of objective dialogue about technological education and inside techonological education represented by the FATECs - Faculdade de Tecnologia do Estado de São Paulo - to be implemented by the coordination of higher education of Centro Paula Souza