Dr Jason Price Associate Dean (Education and Students), Faculty of Media Arts and Humanities
A shared responsibility
Every student arrives at Sussex in transition. For some, this means moving away from home and entering higher education for the first time. For others, it means returning to study, joining us from another educational system, entering directly into a later year, progressing to a more demanding level or preparing to leave university. These moments are exciting, but they can also bring uncertainty. Our new Student Support and Transitions Framework gives us a shared way of thinking about how we help students navigate them.
The central proposition is simple: transition is not confined to Welcome Week. It is a continuous, sometimes non-linear process that runs into, through and beyond university. Nor is it solely the responsibility of student support services. Students experience Sussex most directly through their courses, teaching, assessment, Academic Personal Tutoring, communications and everyday relationships with staff and peers. Supporting transition is therefore an educational responsibility shared across our whole university community.
Into, through and beyond
The Framework organises the student journey around three connected phases. Into is about preparation, orientation, trust and early belonging. Through is about academic development, progression, wellbeing, community and growing independence. Beyond is about helping students recognise what they have learned and prepare confidently for employment, further study and wider civic life. These phases overlap, but together they prompt us to look beyond a single induction event and consider the cumulative experience we create.
This matters particularly at Level 4, which the Framework identifies as a dedicated transitional year. Students should not be expected to arrive already knowing how higher education works. We need to make the hidden curriculum visible: how to prepare for teaching, interpret marking criteria, use feedback, study independently, communicate with staff and seek help. This does not mean lowering academic expectations. It means giving students equitable opportunities to understand those expectations and develop the confidence and skills needed to meet them.
What this means in practice
Induction should prioritise interaction, relationship-building, disciplinary identity and clear academic expectations. It should avoid overwhelming students with information that would be more useful later. Re-induction should then revisit expectations as students move between levels, return for a new semester or encounter new forms of assessment and independent work. Direct-entry students, late arrivals and January starters need equivalent opportunities to orient themselves and join established communities.
Support must also continue once teaching is under way. As per our Academic Framework, early low-stakes summative and formative assessments are expected because these can help students understand standards before major submissions. Academic Personal Tutor conversations can establish trust, encourage reflection and identify concerns. Engagement information can help us notice when a student may be struggling, but it should lead to curious and supportive contact rather than assumptions or punitive responses.
At each stage, our role is to enable growing independence while ensuring students know where expertise and help can be found.
Two new practical resources
To support this work, we are sharing two concise resources alongside the Framework. The Academic Induction and Re-induction Explainer sets out the baseline expectations for welcoming new students, reconnecting returning cohorts and following up through the opening weeks. The Brief for Course Convenors and Academic Personal Tutors, which should be read alongside the guidance for academic personal tutoring, summarises the practical contribution these roles make across the into, through and beyond phases. Both are designed as prompts for local planning rather than rigid scripts, allowing activity to remain responsive to discipline, course and student needs. Further resources will become available as the Transitions Framework is rolled out.
A question for every colleague
As we prepare for the new academic year, I would encourage each of us to ask: what transition are my students experiencing now, and what small action would make that transition clearer, more connected or more manageable? It might be explaining an assumption we usually leave unstated, creating a purposeful opportunity for students to meet one another, revisiting assessment expectations, checking in after feedback, or making the relationship between learning and future skills more visible.
No single activity will determine whether a student succeeds. What matters is the cumulative effect of many interactions across the University. When our messages are coherent, expectations are explicit, relationships are sustained and support is easy to navigate, students are better able to participate fully and flourish. The Framework gives us a common structure, but its success will depend on how thoughtfully we translate it into the particular contexts in which students learn.