Helping students find their place at university

When Jacqueline Charpentier first chose what to study, she did not spend months carefully mapping out her future.

“It wasn’t an easy choice,” she says. “In the end, I simply chose something because I had to, without overthinking it too much.”

Today, that uncertainty has become the starting point of her research. 

As a PhD candidate at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics and EDLAB, Jacqueline studies one of the most decisive moments in a student’s academic life: the transition from secondary school to higher education. Why do some students find their footing while others struggle? Why do some quickly develop a sense of belonging, while others quietly disappear from university altogether?

The more she studied the topic, the clearer one thing became: universities often underestimate just how fragile that transition really is.

“I think this topic is very relevant because, in a way, society incurs a cost when students make what I would call a ‘wrong choice’,” she says. “Of course, that raises the question of what a ‘wrong choice’ actually means. In my research, I define it as choosing a study programme that ultimately does not suit you.”

Sometimes, she explains, the mismatch is academic. Sometimes it is social. A programme may not align with a student’s personality, expectations, or learning style. When students drop out, the consequences often extend beyond losing a year of study.

“When students leave because the academic level was too difficult, it can damage their confidence and make them doubt their abilities,” Jacqueline says. “In other situations, they may simply feel that they have wasted time.”

Jacqueline is interested that these outcomes depend on more than just academic performance. Again and again, her research led her back to something less tangible: relationships, connection, belonging.

Over time, she began to see the transition into higher education not as a single moment, but as a process unfolding in phases. The first begins in secondary school, while students are still trying to figure out who they are and what kind of future they imagine for themselves.

“Once students enter higher education, they move into what we call the ‘landing’ phase, which takes place during the first year,” she explains.

The word “landing” sounds gentle. But for many students, it is anything but.

Within a matter of months, students are expected to build entirely new social circles, adapt to a different educational system, live independently, manage their time, and make decisions that feel consequential for the rest of their lives. Some settle in quickly. Others drift.

“What universities do to support incoming students and ensure they have a positive first-year experience is extremely important,” Jacqueline says.

Her research suggests this trend began even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools participating in the project have also noticed changes in students’ social behaviour, including fewer friendships, more conflicts, and students spending increasing amounts of time on their phones.

That observation has gradually reshaped the way she thinks about universities. Academic success alone, she argues, cannot be the only measure of whether students are doing well in their study programmes. Universities also shape whether students feel seen, supported, and connected enough to remain there in the first place.

“One of the most important themes that consistently emerges in the scientific literature is the concept of a sense of belonging,” Jacqueline says. “That is something I really want universities to take seriously, as it plays a crucial role in students’ well-being and success.”

At Maastricht University, she has studied initiatives designed to strengthen exactly that feeling. One example is mentoring groups, where students meet in smaller settings with staff members who guide them through both academic and practical challenges during the first year.

“These mentoring structures tend to be very beneficial for students,” she says.

But she is careful not to frame belonging as something universities can manufacture through a single programme or intervention. Instead, she sees it as something institutions must actively cultivate throughout the student experience, especially now, as students arrive carrying new forms of pressure, uncertainty, and isolation.

“Universities need to reflect on how they can adapt to these changes and ensure that new students still feel welcomed and supported,” she says.

That sensitivity to context is something she repeatedly returns to when discussing Maastricht University. The transition into higher education, she argues, cannot be understood separately from the environment students enter.

In the end, the reason Jacqueline remains drawn to education research is surprisingly simple. Somewhere along the way, she stopped seeing education as a system people merely pass through and started asking what it could become instead.

“What motivates me now,” she says, “is the idea that education should help everyone reach their full potential, rather than just being a system people pass through.”

“As a researcher, it is meaningful to see that your work can contribute, even in a small way, to ongoing discussions and potentially help inform decisions in education,” she says.

For Jacqueline, these discussions reinforce an important reality.

“Ideally, education should not just be something students go through because it is mandatory,” Jacqueline shares, “but something that actively supports their development and opportunities in life.”

Interview and text by Megheti Tashdjian, EDLAB research assistant