Changing programme during university studies: Consequences to students' perceiving study environment and educational outcomes Mirka Mäkinen University of Turku Department of Education Introduction In Finland there has been conversation concerning university studies. One topic has been students who change study programme during university studies. Usually the phenomenon has been considered as a negative thing. And usually it is that from the organisations point of view. Usually it has been seen as waste of time and resources to educate these students. In Finland the phenomenon has been researched through the statistics counting how common it is to change the programme. Also there have been some surveys of the reasons for the change. In addition to that there have been sociological analyses concerning academic transfer markets. Frame of reference The phenomenon is closely related to the phenomenon of drop-out. That is because those students interrupt one programme and move to another. In international literature of higher education there have been models concerning the process of withdrawal from higher education (egg. Tinto 1975, Pascrell, Duby and Iverson 1983, Bean & Metzner 1985) and research around these questions (eg. Pascarella & Terenzini 1979 and 1983, Bean 1985, Scott, Burns and Cooney 1996, Hodkinson & Bloomer 2001). Liljander (1998) has studied the gains and losses on academic transfer markets from the sociological point of view. The aim of the study The aim of this longitudinal study was to find out what it means to a student to change from one programme to another during university studies. The focus was in experiences and educational outcomes. The research problems were: Are there changes in perceptions concerning study environment, especially climate and teaching, before and after the change in relationship to those students who stay in the same programme? Are there any changes in the outcomes (the number of credits or success)? Material and methods In this follow-up research project we carried out three surveys. The participants were all the students (n=1650) who had entered the University of Turku in 1998. There were 477 students who answered all of those surveys in their 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of studies. In addition to surveys the material also includes register data on the number of credits and success in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of studies of the students who answered the surveys. Statistical analyses were used to show the differences between the groups of students who have changed the programme and who have not. Results There were statistically significant differences between the groups in perceiving the climate of the study environment. After changing the programme the climate was usually perceived more positive way. There were differences between the groups also in perceiving teaching. The differences were statistically significant. There were also differences between the groups in the number of credits gained and the study success, but not all of them were statistically significant. Implications This research brings a different point of view to the phenomenon of changing the study programme. The focus has been usually in the reasons or in time before the change. In this research the focus is in consequences and in experiences of changing the programme and in time after the change.