Effectiveness of University Orientation Program in Preparing Students for Successful Transition to University: A Case of Moi University, Kenya

Universities are taken to have multiple transitions in terms of culture, content (what is taught), environment, inter and intra personal relationships. Therefore, transition of students to university is an important aspect that should be examined because despite the expansion of secondary schools and institutions of higher learning in sub Saharan Africa, the throughput rate is still very low in terms of skills and competences among the graduates.  The main objective was to establish the effect of the orientation program received on students’ preparedness for transition to university. The philosophical underpinning for the study was pragmatism whose aim is to determine practical solutions to problems and actual meanings of the results. Mixed methods research design was used whereby the researcher generated data using concurrent triangulation approach. Purposive sampling was applied to sample first year students in Moi University and proportionate sampling together with simple random sampling was applied in the selection of 375 sample size comprising both male and female students. Data was collected quantitatively and qualitatively where questionnaires and focused group discussions were used respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics using SPSS (Pearson Correlation Coefficient), followed by linear regression to test the hypothesis.  Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data analysis. The findings of this study revealed that orientation program received at the university was not effective in supporting successful transition to university. Minimal efforts have been put on some areas especially course selection. There was a significant and positive correlation between level of preparedness for transition and orientation program received (r=.620, p< .01). Regression results indicated that orientation program received had a statistically significant negative effect on level of preparedness (β= -.832, p˂0.05). The H_O hypothesis was rejected and instead, Orientation program received has significant effect on students’ preparedness for transition from secondary school to University. It was concluded that above 85% percent of first year students are not well prepared for transition to university and that both teaching and non-teaching staff are not meeting the expectations of first year students at the university. The study recommended that there should be an orientation follow up in the second semester of first year. This will ensure that first year university students settle down without having to switch from one course to another. Moreover, it will result in improved competency among students graduating from universities hence contributing to the achievement of vision 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 4 and 8.