UStart: a peer-designed and led orientation initiative

To reduce student isolation in the university (ACER, 2010; James, Krause, & Jennings, 2010) and increase student engagement with the campus, faculty, staff, and peers, the University of Wollongong (UOW) adopted a new one-day, orientation initiative. Modeled after the successful UniStart program developed at the University of Newcastle, Wollongong’s UStart@UOW program is wholly designed, developed, and facilitated by students and is based on the premise that enrolled students play a vital role in welcoming and immersing new students into the university culture. By grounding the content of the program firmly within current student experience, the emphasis is on the skills and information the more experienced student facilitators lacked upon their arrival at the University rather than what the institution assumes is lacking.