School-to-University Transition Challenges among First-Year Students in Selected Cambodian Higher Education Institutions
Abstract
Objective: This study examined the academic, personal, socio-cultural, and student-service challenges encountered by first-year students transitioning from secondary school to selected public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Cambodia and how students and institutional stakeholders interpreted these challenges. Method: An exploratory qualitative design was used, involving 20 purposively selected participants from six HEIs. Eleven institutional stakeholders completed semi-structured individual interviews, while nine first-year students participated in two focus group discussions. Data were collected from January to March 2025, principally in Khmer, audio-recorded with consent, transcribed verbatim, translated into English, and manually analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's six recursive phases. Four interrelated themes were identified. Academic challenges include independent learning, unfamiliar assessments, digital study, English-medium materials, and uneven instructional support. Personal challenges involved relocation, homesickness, accommodation, financial and work study pressures, and access to health support. Socio-cultural challenges included communication confidence, relationship-building, belonging, inclusion, and participation. The student-service challenges concerned limited awareness, inconvenient access, staffing capacity, and responsiveness. Student accounts emphasize lived consequences, whereas stakeholders identify preparation gaps, resource limitations, and organizational conditions more often. Novelty: This study provides a context-specific, cross-source account of first-year transition in Cambodian HEIs and conceptualizes transition as an ongoing process at the student-institution interface rather than solely as an individual student deficit. It concludes that effective transition support requires coordinated academic, social, and student-service interventions extending beyond the initial orientation across the first academic year.