‘Enhancing Academic Engagement: CAT1 (crucial academic training) and student support teams’ presents an undergraduate student-informed pilot project that aims to address the problem of engagement in higher education and the widening knowledge-gap between post-primary and higher education students. This paper presents the design, implementation, and qualitative and quantitative results of a 2024 student-informed case study at Dublin City University (DCU) Ireland, which resulted in two outcomes: a CAT1 online learning page and student support teams.

By combining learnings from an undergraduate student advisory group, the project was developed and piloted with twenty-eight first-year undergraduate music students in 2024. The project combines digital learning software Loop (powered by Moodle), a timetable plan, challenge-based learning, onsite learning environments (libraries, writing centres, student supports), student-led support teams, and four onsite seminars for targeted skill acquisition in six key areas: Timetabling; Navigating the DCU Library; Notetaking and Effective Reading; Academic Referencing; Critical Thinking and Academic Writing; and Assignment Writing.

The pilot project, informed by learning theory and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (UDLL, AHEAD 2016) aimed to combat concerns surrounding student engagement and address the lost connections between students, their subjects, and wider university services to, ultimately, set students up for academic success.