Young people heading for university need much better preparation for what they can expect, say researchers. After all the effort of getting a university place, the Higher Education Policy Institute study suggests, there can be unrealistic expectations. Most young people expect to have more teaching hours in university than in school, when the opposite is the case. The study also found that young people with a mental health problem were unlikely to have told their university.
There have been many surveys of student attitudes - but this is unusual in looking at the expectations of young people about to become students.
The study, carried out by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Unite Students, suggests that as well as being excited and nervous, many students are deeply ill-informed about what to expect.
About half a million new students begin university courses in the UK each year - and an annual Hepi study published earlier this year suggested that only about a third thought they were getting good value for money.
The latest study, based on a sample of more than 2,000 young people, suggests this could be because expectations of university life are unlikely to be matched by the reality.
