Jorine Geertsema, project lead of Stay Prepared, sees it time and again: students who are academically strong but stumble over the how of studying. “I meet students with plenty of talent but who find it harder to find their way around the university. At home, they didn’t have a role model; they couldn’t ‘observe how others did it’. They have to figure out a lot themselves, and in doing so, they also develop a kind of superpower.”
The Better Prepared and Stay Prepared programmes aim to make that start less lonely. “We make visible what seems self-evident to others by putting words to what often remains implicit. And we offer a place where asking questions feels safe.”
“I felt lost when I started studying”
First-generation Anthropology student Kiki Rombouts recognises that feeling. “Because no one in my immediate family had studied before, I had to figure everything out myself. I felt really lost when I started university.” She took detours, switched degree programmes, and meanwhile had dozens of conversations with study advisers, lecturers, and fellow students to understand how the system works.
“I notice that these implicit rules are obvious to many students. I had to keep asking questions to make them clear,” Kiki says. And that’s exactly the point, Jorine adds: “If you already know the rules, you can put all your energy into the content. If you still have to discover them, you’re invisibly doing a second degree alongside your studies.”
What you can do as a lecturer: make the implicit explicit
The absence of role models doesn’t make students less motivated, but it often makes them more cautious. The real gains are often in small, everyday interventions, things you can do in a minute, but that can make a big difference for a student.
Practical tips for lecturers, according to Jorine:
- Make the unwritten rules visible: explicitly name what often remains implicit.
- Normalize asking questions: mention out loud that asking questions isn’t an interruption but part of academic work.
- Explain contact moments: when is it useful to email you, when are office hours, and how quickly can students expect a response?
- Make language less intimidating: show what a perfectly fine email looks like (short, friendly, with context).
- Turn expectations into examples: not just “be critical,” but what does a critical question look like in this course? What is a strong reference?
- Name the culture: explain that not knowing is also part of studying, and that making mistakes is often the route to better work.
No shortage of perseverance
A different starting position doesn’t call for lower expectations, but for different support. When expectations are clear and students feel safe to ask questions, their qualities surface more quickly.
For Kiki, the absence of a fixed path even became a strength. “I had to think so much about what my next academic step would be,” she says. That reflection became part of her way of studying.
Jorine sees this in many students: “First-generation students certainly don’t lack perseverance. When the university meets them with clear frameworks and accessible explanations, students can not only keep up, but also shape their own path.”
