Building perceived self-efficacy in new tertiary healthcare students by teaching transferable skills: The Transition 2 University (T2U) Program

New university students not only need to learn a wide range of skills, but also have to gain the belief that they can succeed (perceived self-efficacy). This paper describes the evaluation of a transition program designed to teach transferable skills at the beginning of university study. Importantly, we show that this program improved students’ perceived self-efficacy during university transition through the provision of authentic mastery experiences and social persuasion. We also show that the improved perceived self-efficacy of program participants persisted until at least the end of the first semester of study. Finally, we demonstrate that participants felt the transition program improved their overall transition experience.