Students’ empowerment for studies at a university means the creation of such educational environment that provides the learning power to each student, and influences successful studies. This involves competence-based, psychological, educational, and organizational conditions (Jucevičienė et al. 2010). A teacher who is striving to build such environment in his or her classes creates parity-based climate, helps the students to understand the system of their knowledge and to develop understanding, adjusts the aims and content of learning and the evaluation methods together with the students, helps the students to select appropriate learning aids, and also helps them to internalize the learning content on the basis of the deep rather than the superficial approach. Autonomy and responsibility for the results of one’s activity provided to the students in such environment allow them to control their learning process, while tolerance of mistakes, reflection, self-control, and self-evaluation create the possibility to learn from one’s mistakes, increase self-confidence, and maintain motivation for high-quality learning and the deep approach to learning. Another important point is that students in such environment get the possibility of a free choice of various information, material, and human resources that are required for their learning and correspond to their needs.

First-year students at a university have to adapt to the new environment, to learning that is based on independent work, to different relationships with the teachers, to a new status, etc. For many young people, these changes cause various issues and problems related to independent learning, time management, parity-based relationships, the use of learning resources, etc. This suggests that the identification of differences between the educational environments of a university and a secondary school would help teachers and students to understand the cause of the major problems, and would allow for a successful empowerment of students.

Research question:

The article aims at answering the following questions: what differences between the educational environments of a university and a secondary school do first-year students identify? What problems with students’ empowerment for university studies do these differences possibly cause? The participants of the study were first-year students of a university X.

Objective: to identify the differences between the educational environments of a university and a secondary school on the basis of the students’ viewpoint.

Purpose:

1. To discuss the theoretical aspects of the differences between the educational environments of a university and a secondary school;

2. To reveal fist-year students’ attitudes towards the differences between the educational environments of a university and a secondary school;

3. To identify preconditions for the emergence of problems in students’ empowerment for university studies, related to the differences between the educational environments.

   Conceptual or theoretical framework

   The article is based on theoretical positions that reveal constructivist principles, educational environments favorable for students’ empowerment, the preconditions for the formation of deep learning, and the specificity of modern learning and higher education (Barnett, 1990; 1999; 2003; Glinskienė; Lipinskienė,2005; Jucevičienė, Gudaitytė et al., 2010; Jucevičienė, Lipinskienė, 2001; Jucevičienė, Stanikūnienė, 2002; Petty, 2006; 2008; Ramsden, 2000).

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