ABSTRACT
The 'rough diamonds' or 'valuable gems' in this chapter are first-generation students at an English higher education (HE) institution. The study, on which the chapter draws, tracked students as they negotiated their entry to a satellite university campus called 'The Centre'. The aim of the study was to explore the transition of students who were first-generation undergraduate university entrants and how they perceived their first semester experiences, as they negotiate study (settle into higher education) at a campus site. The chapter views transition as movement, the passage of change from one role to another, as in the early weeks of university the students experienced disjuncture between their expectations held prior to commencing university and the experience they encountered. It examines the findings that resulted from the phenomenological approach and the students learning journey through the variations of four achievement categories. The four achievement categories are: academic achievement, social achievement, personal development and settling into HE.
