Transitioning Students into a Professional Living and Learning Community
Associate Professor Paul R Bates
Head, Griffith Aviation, Griffith University, AUSTRALIA
[email protected]
What do the students say about Aviation Orientation? The Aviation team have now gathered 2 years of data
and the results from approximately 120 1 st year students demonstrate no statistical difference between the two
years. Almost all of the students come directly from high school with around 90% coming from Queensland. Half
the students indicated they were either apprehensive or highly apprehensive about coming to University.
Interestingly a greater percentage of female students were highly apprehensive; 17% compared to 6% of their
male counterparts. However after orientation week, 90% of students were more comfortable about University,
although 17% of males strongly agreed they were more comfortable while 6% of females strongly agreed. 84% of
male students felt their mentor was helpful while only 67% of females felt this. Almost 90% of students felt that
the small flight groups gave them a sense of belonging and there was no difference between male and female
responses.
After orientation week well over 90% of students’ felt that either their questions had been answered or even more
importantly that they knew how to obtain answers for themselves! Also, over 90% of the students were now more
confident about University with very minor differences between female and male students.