Introduction
I think anyone who goes to university goes on a journey. We take these trips and voyages in the hope that we will emerge from them changed in some fundamental and important way. For many of us, these are our first independent steps away from home, an opportunity to start afresh and make friends or even lovers for life. This is the very definition of a fresh start in psychology. Just as characters in stories become who they need to be through challenges, the university rends us with trials and suffering and forces us to grow. This happens to everyone who tries, and has happened for millennia. But the question that I want to answer is why? How do we change? What makes the university environment such a crucible for this change?
What drives this change? Of course, these are not simple questions. There are many different kinds of maturation that can happen at university. There are changes that can be measured in the practical things of life, such as job prospects or social capital. These are the things that most policy points to and focuses on, and which we spend a lot of time in the first weeks of welcome thinking about. How do we get more internships and useful knowledge into our undergraduate careers, ones that could have appeal to potential employers, and indeed to ourselves? That's a very important kind of growth, of course, but not the only kind there is. There is also personal growth: the building of resilience, the investment in our communities of care and ethics, the ways that we are thinking beyond just our own consumption and into our connections. There is also an intellectual kind of growth, much less easily quantified but in some ways more profound, and our lecturers and tutors are deeply invested in how that's coming along for us. I'll expand on the drivers of some of this growth in what follows.
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Navigating Academic Challenges
On the road toward a degree, students often wrestle with the academic expectations of written assignments and looming exams. Professors demand frequent essays and readings, with the expectation that students research, study, and critically analyze course materials. Deadlines arrive under the strains of interpersonal obligations, long class hours, and other involvements. With all the pressures, academic struggles can foster feelings of stress, anxiety, or at times, the sensation of being "swamped."
Moreover, grades are seen as a measure of our academic performance, which must remain at a certain level in order for students to continue in some programs of study. Sadly, this can turn the process into a competition and stamina game. To truly absorb all of the knowledge this experience offers deepens passion and engagement. Moreover, it is vital to remember that simply because our current selves might be underprepared does not mean that we won't thrive as future professionals. When academic roadblocks are conquered, the pride in perseverance and newfound confidence provide additional rewards.
Faculty members are also a key resource for navigating academic pitfalls. Many professors appreciate and respond to a well-written, inquisitive email. Oftentimes the "sage advice" is tough criticism, but our instructors are some of the best. They know the path of those who went before us and can help us navigate as we hike through the daunting fog of a semester that looks bumpy. The cohort of classmates is a research team with unlimited resources as well. Through diverse relationships and trade associations, students receive supplementary resources. Feeling less alone and lost abounds when working through a tough essay or cramming for an exam means a study brunch or coffee study-and-complain session with a like-minded peer. How brave, innovative, and otherworldly to bond over the utter scariness of things.
Building Resilience and Coping Strategies
Research demonstrates the importance of resilience in coping with university life and the positive influence it can have on personal and overall growth. Put simply, resilience is the ability to bounce back from a difficult experience or adapt positively in the face of stress. Resilience is a set of skills and beliefs with five core components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and good social skills. The skills and ways of thinking that separate more resilient students from less resilient students include being grounded and mindful, overcoming fear, having a balanced lifestyle, solving problems, and being open and positive. Mindfulness encourages a non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment, including the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that flow from it. In turn, it helps the individual to better understand and master the often negative thoughts and emotions associated with events such as assignment deadlines and failure. Social support, being around other people who care, is another effective coping strategy for overcoming isolation and mental health issues. The supportive aspects of relationships can also serve as an outlet for trying to gain a new and impartial perspective on an uncomfortable situation. Other important strategies for developing strong resilience and coping with university demands include learning from failure and maintaining a balanced lifestyle. A certain amount of self-care practices are required if you are to look after your mental health and overall well-being. College pushes the boundaries of what we already know about ourselves and demands that we adapt and learn new strategies. Students often experience a great deal of change at university and may struggle to cope, which can be problematic for their mental health. Resilience can help students get through their struggles and find the resources to deal with difficulties. This is particularly important given that a university system that challenges students to achieve can be beneficial, as students talk about how facing demanding challenges builds their confidence and self-awareness.
Exploring Identity and Values
The undergraduate years are an ideal time to identify and develop values and a vision. The university environment, with diverse students, faculty, and courses, challenges students to ask the fundamental questions of what is worth living for and how one ought to go about it. It is particularly important for students to think of their identity and values in this time of cultural exchanges, rapid changes, and technological advances that are sure to alter one's way of life. Social experience, interactively, and curricular and co-curricular interactions provide experience; time and thought bring reflection on questions of ultimate concern. During college years, students engage with powerful questions of personal and social identity, what one can know, and how one ought to act.
Education is both the assimilation of the established value structure of the adult world and the exploration, often painful, of students' conflicts and concerns. Living and working with persons of different races, nations, religions, and outlooks will often lead to understanding oneself better and a resulting better integration and self-definition of the values. Through discussion, papers, and exams, students are assumed to become engaged in a critical activity in which they take random facts and particular viewpoints and fit them into a coherent, necessary, and universal knowledge of that field. Furthermore, personal discovery and clarification of one's values can have a direct bearing on students' post-Bachelor's educational and career choices. One student notes that taking the time to identify my own values has greatly affected my career and life choices. Formally and intentionally guiding students in the exploration of the above values will put the institution at the forefront as a leader in developing the whole person and educating students for an increasingly complex world in the next century.
Diversity and Inclusivity
Down the aisle adjacent to mine in each of the rows in the various sections are people of different ethnicities and nationalities. I have another question here, but I think I would love to sit in this class and converse about the ideas presented with these individuals. Be it in the dining hall where the vocal world center is located, in my Globalization class where I sit among students from all four corners of the globe, or in my conversations with friends about how their experiences growing up as people of particular religious, cultural, or national heritage have, and continue to, shape them as individuals, I find myself straining to understand to whatever extent I can the experiences of others, to understand the world from their perspective, and to think from that point of view.
It can be difficult. As much as the promotion of diversity can be seen as one uniform message meant to make each of us feel good about ourselves and squelch out our prejudices, the truth is that a truly diverse and inclusive community is a challenging experience. When sparked by its own individual attitudes or systemic ones, it takes effort to turn off your presumptions and try to see the world through someone else's eyes. It is a process that, yet, can and should be met with success. Many universities have established departments, initiatives, programs, whose aim is to promote diversity and inclusivity. That the conversation about diversity exists on so many levels in our own communities is a good thing. It reminds us that inclusivity in our community is not a given but something that must be continuously striven for. At least here, the prevailing mindset appears to be that a person can gain much from engaging with and learning from a diverse group of people. And why wouldn't they think that? Just off the top of your head, you can think of a zillion reasons why inclusivity is beneficial, among them improved critical thinking, a richer academic environment, the next generation of leaders being better prepared to address the challenges of global interdependence, and the professional and social benefits of an extensive network of diverse alumni.
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