Surveys signal changes to orientation week

By Jessy Chung, June 12, 2014 — 

Orientation Week programming will likely change as a result of two student surveys conducted last year.

Two organizations — the American College Health Association (ACHA) and the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) — surveyed students on student orientation and the transition to university.

Student and Enrolment Services addressed the findings of the surveys at a town hall on June 4.

NODA surveyed new U of C students while ACHA randomly selected 5,000 U of C undergraduate and graduate students to question.

ACHA’s National College Health Assessment reports 55.5 per cent of respondents felt academic stress in the past 12 months and 90.3 per cent felt overwhelmed by university.

The NODA survey found that 38.7 per cent of respondents thought transitioning to university life was easy, while 39.8 per cent found the academic transition difficult.

According to the U of C’s Office of Institutional Analysis, first-year student retention rate increased from 82.2 per cent in 2007 to 88.3 per cent in 2012.

Students’ Union vice-president student life Jonah Ardiel said the SU will use Orientation Week to promote mental health.

“It’s stressful coming out of high school into university,” Ardiel said. “It’s a drastic change.”