First-year students’ digital competences as a study success factor?

The increasing digitalisation of higher education means that students need digital skills, especially at the start of their studies. The present study of first-year students (N = 338) from various fields of study explored the level of their digital competencies and the relationship between these competencies and learning success, experienced communication, study satisfaction, and dropout intention at the end of the first semester. The study showed differences in the levels of different digital competencies. Furthermore, competencies for sharing digital information were significantly related to all of the variables examined.