…by the look of this banner currently up at the University of the West of England.
But anyone who finds the transition to higher education tricky should know they are in good company.
At a HEPI / HEA breakfast on student wellbeing earlier this year, a leading figure in the sector said the one thing she wished someone had told her before going to university was that it can sometimes feel lonely in the early days. The British model of moving away from home to study (the so-called ‘boarding-school model‘) can make the challenges seem especially large.
So it is important for those starting higher education this autumn know confidential support services run by universities and others are out there and they have every right to use them.
And, if you are a fresher, don’t think the experiences you have in the first few weeks need define the rest of your time as a student. In Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, one character claims:
‘You’ll find you spend half your second year shaking off the undesirable friends you made in your first’.