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One striking difference between school/college and higher education is the need to hold yourself accountable. University learning comes with many new challenges, including the fact that you’re held less accountable by your lecturers and you must take that responsibility into your own hands.  

When you start university, you instantly realise the freedom that you’ve been given to complete your work and attend lectures. When you’re the one who’s paying for the course, making your own way there, going home and completing the work, the onus is on yourself to ensure that you do what’s necessary for your learning. 

A quote I heard recently made me consider the importance of this responsibility  – Jean-Paul Sartre said: “[…] anguish to the extent that I am afraid not of falling over the precipice, but of throwing myself over.”. I found this quote relevant because it made me realise that the responsibility of holding your education and future in your own hands gives you the power to throw it away. It’s your choice to attend lectures, partake in seminars and complete directed reading, unlike in school or college where you’d be closely held accountable by teachers watching over you. 

I think that this responsibility can be quite daunting for new students. In school I was the type to sit at the back of the room, not particularly interacting with the teacher or answering questions, and ultimately my results in and outside of the classroom were unspectacular. When started university, I quickly realised that if I was to continue like this, I simply wouldn’t succeed. I realised that I was on the cusp of a career that I was really passionate about, which made me put more of conscious effort into my learning. I now find that I understand the work and most importantly enjoy it much more than I did with any subject in school. My point is, rather than being overwhelmed by the responsibility and power that you have over your learning, you should use it to your advantage.  

I believe that university is excellent because it allows you to take control of your learning and complete work the way that works for you. At school you’d often be limited to the way in which the teacher preferred to teach, which isn’t always beneficial for every student. In contrast, at university you take your learning methods into your own hands. Prefer to sit at the back of the room and observe? Go for it. Rather be front and centre asking questions and engaging? No problem! Many of the issues that you may have had with education while in school can be rectified by yourself at university, and that’s something that I think every student should relish and make the most of. 

Here’s an example of how my degree lets me take responsibility as a student: there’s a system in place that allows me to access lectures virtually so I can watch them in my own time and at my own pace. Due to the complex nature of law, I’m really thankful that this is possible because I must pause each lecture close to 100 times – a feature that universities haven’t yet implemented into in-person lectures. If you’re a dedicated student who’s willing to put the work in, I believe that the responsibility afforded by universities can only be of benefit to you and is something that makes university a unique learning environment.