New UGP publication: START Handbook: How can I help my first-year students engage, persist and succeed?

The START Handbook: How can I help my first-year students engage, persist and succeed? is now available as an open-access webbook through University of Groningen Press (UGP).

Train-the-trainer

It is an open educational 'train-the-trainer' resource designed to support educators in guiding first-year students through their transition to higher education. Thanks to its open license, the handbook can be easily adapted and customized to meet the specific needs of various educational programs, courses, or professional development training at any institution.

START Project

Developed by the START Project Team as part of their Erasmus+ project, the handbook provides educators with practical ideas and concrete activities to foster student engagement, persistence, and success. It draws on extensive research, including a literature review from 20 countries and focus group insights from first-year students, academics, and faculty developers across five universities.

The START project is a collaborative initiative uniting educational professionals from six partner institutions: University of Groningen (the Netherlands), University College Dublin (Ireland), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), Université de Poitiers (France), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and the Education for an Interdependent World European Youth NGO (Belgium).