Many people who didn’t like school absolutely flourish in higher education; it’s a completely different experience and way of learning.
While you’re at school, you are told where to be, what to do and what to wear. If you don’t attend a lesson, or do what you’ve been asked to do, you’ll be held accountable. It’s not like this in higher education.
A day at university looks very different from a school day. On a weekly basis, students will have a certain amount of contact time. These hours are actually spent attending lectures, seminars, workshops, meetings, or tutorial sessions – sessions where you’re with a member of teaching staff in some sort of form. On average, you can expect around 12 hours of contact time per week, but this varies from course to course.
On top of contact time, students will spend time working independently and sometimes in groups. Independent work can, again, vary from course to course, but on average, this would be around 14 hours per week. This is what really makes higher education different from school.