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Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah

For many first-generation students, higher education act as an important turning point that can help to advance their inherited socioeconomic status. Without university-educated parents, first-generation students often time lack the social capital and cultural capital that are crucial for their inte...

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Main Author: Charles Ling Leh Kim
Format: Academic Exercise
Language:English
English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
LB2300-2430 Higher education
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/1/24%20PAGES.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/2/FULLTEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/
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spelling my.ums.eprints.352612023-03-28T06:28:34Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/ Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah Charles Ling Leh Kim LB2300-2430 Higher education For many first-generation students, higher education act as an important turning point that can help to advance their inherited socioeconomic status. Without university-educated parents, first-generation students often time lack the social capital and cultural capital that are crucial for their integration at university. Therefore, this study explores the challenges faced by first-generation students and the coping strategies they have relied on to overcome them. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 15 third-year, first-generation students from the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), a public university in Malaysia. Guided by social capital theory and cultural capital theory, research data were analyzed and coded for themes by using thematic analysis. The research findings demonstrate that first-generation students were academically, socially and financially challenged by the university due to their initial limited understanding of preparation for university. Their past academic experience, family’s socioeconomic background, and parents’ education levels have inevitably placed them in a disadvantaged position at university. However, these students possess positive outlooks that have overshadowed various challenges in their university degree journey. In opposition to the view that first-generation students are less competent to persist at university owing to their socioeconomic backgrounds, the support from their family and peers has significantly motivated them to continue pursuing their dreams. Therefore, it is hoped that the meaningful insights provided in this study can be taken as a valuable reference for universities and schools to better understand this group of students. 2022 Academic Exercise NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/1/24%20PAGES.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/2/FULLTEXT.pdf Charles Ling Leh Kim (2022) Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Universiti Malaysia Sabah. (Unpublished)
institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/
language English
English
topic LB2300-2430 Higher education
spellingShingle LB2300-2430 Higher education
Charles Ling Leh Kim
Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
description For many first-generation students, higher education act as an important turning point that can help to advance their inherited socioeconomic status. Without university-educated parents, first-generation students often time lack the social capital and cultural capital that are crucial for their integration at university. Therefore, this study explores the challenges faced by first-generation students and the coping strategies they have relied on to overcome them. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 15 third-year, first-generation students from the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), a public university in Malaysia. Guided by social capital theory and cultural capital theory, research data were analyzed and coded for themes by using thematic analysis. The research findings demonstrate that first-generation students were academically, socially and financially challenged by the university due to their initial limited understanding of preparation for university. Their past academic experience, family’s socioeconomic background, and parents’ education levels have inevitably placed them in a disadvantaged position at university. However, these students possess positive outlooks that have overshadowed various challenges in their university degree journey. In opposition to the view that first-generation students are less competent to persist at university owing to their socioeconomic backgrounds, the support from their family and peers has significantly motivated them to continue pursuing their dreams. Therefore, it is hoped that the meaningful insights provided in this study can be taken as a valuable reference for universities and schools to better understand this group of students.
format Academic Exercise
author Charles Ling Leh Kim
author_facet Charles Ling Leh Kim
author_sort Charles Ling Leh Kim
title Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
title_short Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
title_full Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
title_fullStr Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
title_full_unstemmed Entering university as the first: Understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at Universiti Malaysia Sabah
title_sort entering university as the first: understanding first-generation students’ challenges and their coping strategies at universiti malaysia sabah
publishDate 2022
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/1/24%20PAGES.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/2/FULLTEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35261/
_version_ 1761617774169292800
score 13.211869

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