New Horizons

Abstract

Since the inception of this journal, it has been the practice to devote an issue each year to the outcomes of our annual conference on the first year experience in higher education. As befits its growing reputation and following, the conference, for this its 15th year, was renamed The International First Year in Higher Education Conference. Four of the highest rated papers and five of the best Nuts and Bolts presentations were selected and their authors offered the opportunity to revamp the papers as Articles or the presentations as Practice Reports. In the latter, the authors were requested to augment their manuscript with the outcomes of the discussion that ensued during and after the presentations. All of the nine items address the conference theme of New Horizons. Three of the editors of this journal and the journal manager recently published a comprehensive meta-analysis of nearly 400 items of Australasian literature on the first year experience in higher education covering the decade 2000-2010 (Nelson, Clarke, Kift & Creagh, 2011). They concluded that research and practice had matured over the decade and researchers and practitioners were "on the cusp" with regard to future developments. The Articles and Practice Reports in this issue are concrete examples of the approaching horizon of maturity.