Junior university: a rite of passage

Abstract

The transition between secondary and tertiary education has often beendescribed as a “gap” implying that it is lacking in some way and that secondarystudents need better preparation for further education (Jansen & van der Meer,2012; Juarez-Dappe, 2011; Triado, 2012). Programmes, such as the JuniorUniversity, a pre-university summer school for 16-18 year olds, integrate learning ofspecific subject matter and English and make an important step towards preparingstudents. This article describes the Junior University, a two-week internationalexperience at a local university setting, which gives students a taste of academicsubject matter and does so through the medium of English. Another characteristicof the Junior University is the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)model underlying its classroom practice. Results from students’ satisfactionquestionnaires from the pilot Junior University programme are presented, whichwere generally positive. The article concludes with some improvements made basedon the initial pilot experience and also the benefits in setting up such programmesat Spanish universities.