Shen Ziyue, Liu Yunbo, Wu Hongbin
Graduate School of Education/Institute of Medical Education, Peking University, No.5 Summer Palace Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China.
Institute for Vocational and Adult Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, China.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Aug 8;25(1):1155. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07608-7.
Several studies have examined whether students transferring from junior colleges have a sufficient educational foundation to succeed at the university level. However, a controversy has arisen because prior studies offer conflicting results. Moreover, these studies have not looked at medical transfer students. This study examined the differences in learning outcomes and career intentions (CI) between transfer students and those who began at medical universities in China (native students), focusing on student engagement. The sample data, from the 2020 China Medical Student Survey, included fifth-year (graduate year) medical students from 39 universities (6,712 native and 1,582 transfer students). A conceptual framework was constructed using the input-environment-output model and student engagement theory. Engagement was categorized into behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. The analysis encompassed t-tests, chi-square tests, multivariable linear and logistic regressions, Shapley value modeling, and path analysis. The results showed that a significantly higher proportion of transfer students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and had lower pre-entry abilities, although their self-reported engagement was higher. Thus, engagement contributed to their ability to catch up in terms of learning outcomes, with emotional engagement having significant direct and indirect positive associations with learning outcomes and CIs. Ultimately, there were no significant differences in learning outcomes and CIs between transfer and native students. The findings suggest that transfer students are more engaged despite their disadvantages and show no significant weakness in their learning outcomes or CI. This underscores the importance of preserving and enhancing access to undergraduate studies for Chinese medical students in junior colleges, thereby promoting educational equity.
多项研究探讨了从专科院校转学的学生是否具备足够的教育基础以在大学层面取得成功。然而，由于先前的研究结果相互矛盾，引发了一场争议。此外，这些研究并未关注医学转学生。本研究考察了中国转学生与从医科大学开始学业的学生（本土学生）在学习成果和职业意向（CI）方面的差异，重点关注学生参与度。样本数据来自2020年中国医科学生调查，包括来自39所大学的五年级（毕业年级）医学生（6712名本土学生和1582名转学生）。使用输入-环境-输出模型和学生参与理论构建了一个概念框架。参与度被分为行为、情感和认知维度。分析包括t检验、卡方检验、多变量线性和逻辑回归、夏普利值建模以及路径分析。结果表明，转学生中来自弱势背景的比例显著更高，入学前能力较低，尽管他们自我报告的参与度较高。因此，参与度有助于他们在学习成果方面迎头赶上，情感参与与学习成果和职业意向有着显著的直接和间接正相关。最终，转学生和本土学生在学习成果和职业意向上没有显著差异。研究结果表明，转学生尽管处于劣势但参与度更高，并且在学习成果或职业意向上没有明显弱点。这凸显了为中国专科院校医学生保留并提高本科学习机会的重要性，从而促进教育公平。
