The Impact of Pre Entry Orientation on Continuation for Disabled Students: A Mixed Methods Study

Disabled students represent a growing proportion of the UK higher education population, yet continue to experience structural disadvantages in transition, progression, and continuation. This study evaluates the Relaxed Induction programme, a two-day, face-to-face pre-orientation intervention designed to support disabled student entrants during the transition into university. Using a convergent mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design, the study examined whether participation was associated with improved continuation and explored participants’ perceived transition experiences and underlying mechanisms. Quantitative analyses compared 25 participants with 417 matched nonparticipants in the region of common support using doubly robust, cross-fitted augmented inverse probability weighting. Participation was associated with a statistically significant increase in continuation of 2.29 percentage points (95% CI [0.35, 4.24], SE = 0.99). Complementary qualitative findings from six semi-structured interviews suggested that the programme reduced adjustment anxiety, strengthened confidence and belonging, improved awareness of support services, and enhanced readiness for academic engagement. Overall, the findings indicate that a brief pre-entry intervention can support transition and modestly improve continuation. Future research should replicate these results in larger, multi-cohort or multi-institution samples and test differential effects across student subgroups.