themes that emerged in Phase 1 is presented in Figure 3. These themes refer to the various peer support schemes available to students. Figure 3. Identified themes related to the timeframe and support for integration. Student ambassadors: support for social integration during the first weeks During their first weeks at university, all the participants were questioned about their appreciation of the support they experienced. 64% of the participants (N=60) stated their satisfaction with their experiences with student ambassadors in relation to social integration. University student ambassadors are current students who help university recruiting unit’ to promote university life and student life to ‘the prospective students and their families. Student ambassadors mainly help with campus tours at the main Open Days in June, September and October. They indicated that student ambassadors specifically helped them with finding their way on campus and stated that they were more likely to discuss problems with these students because they were in the same position. They also referred to the characteristics of the role of the student ambassador. 16% of the participants (N=15) believed that they felt confident to ask questions because of the meet and greet with student ambassadors during their visit to one of the University Open Campus Days before they arrived. The student ambassadors’ (as a type of facilitator) minded’ attitude when guiding students on campus was considered ‘open significantly welcome: I went to them with the dumbest questions…At the University’s Open Day it was also the same; you could ask them about really everything. (Student 7: first-year student EDWE) – Facilitators became a familiar face. Consequently, this helped to reduce barriers of personal anxiety and allowed students not to feel shy. Most students felt that student ambassadors were considered as a good source of personal informational support, because of their enthusiasm, their friendly faces and their support and open-mindedness: I think it might be easier to ask questions if you already know each other. As such, the threshold is even lower. (Student 9: first-year student EDWE) – According to 27% of the participants (N=25), the strongest features were providing information and answering queries in terms of academic and non-academic problems. Moreover, the fact that student ambassadors answer questions, both and through Facebook, and are always available to help someone, contributed significantly to a sense of belonging from the beginning:
themes that emerged in Phase 1 is presented in Figure 3. These themes refer to the various peer support schemes available to students. Figure 3. Identified themes related to the timeframe and support for integration. Student ambassadors: support for social integration during the first weeks During their first weeks at university, all the participants were questioned about their appreciation of the support they experienced. 64% of the participants (N=60) stated their satisfaction with their experiences with student ambassadors in relation to social integration. University student ambassadors are current students who help ‘the university recruiting unit’ to promote university life and student life to prospective students and their families. Student ambassadors mainly help with campus tours at the main Open Days in June, September and October. They indicated that student ambassadors specifically helped them with finding their way on campus and stated that they were more likely to discuss problems with these students because they were in the same position. They also referred to the characteristics of the role of the student ambassador. 16% of the participants (N=15) believed that they felt confident to ask questions because of the meet and greet with student ambassadors during their visit to one of the University Open Campus Days before they arrived. The student ambassadors’ (as a type of facilitator) ‘open minded’ attitude when guiding students on campus was considered significantly welcome: I went to them with the dumbest questions…At the University’s Open Day it was also the same; you could ask them about really everything. (Student 7: first-year student – EDWE) Facilitators became a familiar face. Consequently, this helped to reduce barriers of personal anxiety and allowed students not to feel shy. Most students felt that student ambassadors were considered as a good source of personal informational support, because of their enthusiasm, their friendly faces and their support and open-mindedness: I think it might be easier to ask questions if you already know each other. As such, the threshold is even lower. (Student 9: first-year student – EDWE) According to 27% of the participants (N=25), the strongest features were providing information and answering queries in terms of academic and non-academic problems. Moreover, the fact that student ambassadors answer questions, both and through Facebook, and are always available to help someone, contributed significantly to a sense of belonging from the beginning:
PAL-RJAC-2.docx