Staff Perceptions of First-in-Family Students in Higher Education: A Case Study of a Belgian College

First-in-family students, otherwise known as pioneers, are crucial in shaping educational spaces globally. This paper investigates staff perceptions of pioneer students in a Belgian college, HOGENT. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with six staff members explored how they perceive and engage with pioneer students, and how HOGENT could better support them. Participant responses revealed themes: culture of HOGENT, unfamiliarity with pioneer experiences, preference for universal design, and suggested interventions. The takeaways of analysis are: tension between universal design and targeted support, framing of obstacles and strengths, culture of asking for help, making implicit ideas explicit, and pioneer students as multi-dimensional.

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