It can be really helpful when you’re a university student to have goals and aspirations, but what does that actually mean? How can you use goals to your advantage and, more practically, how do you even set good goals?

In this article, we’ll explore what university goals look like, and make some distinctions between concepts of aims, goals, strategies and standards. Let’s get started by considering university aims!

What are university aims?

You can think of your aim as your overall aspiration - ultimately what you want to achieve. An example of this might be something like, “I want to pass all of my subjects this semester”.

That’s a nice aspiration to have, but we can’t just leave it there. If we did leave it there, it probably wouldn't be all that useful. It tells us what we want to do, but doesn’t really provide any insight into how we’re going to do it. That’s where goals come in.

What are university goals?

Goals are a bit more specific - you can picture them as the ‘level’ under aims. The idea is that each goal will help you achieve your aim. You might have multiple goals per aim to help guide you. So if our aim is to pass all of our subjects, goals might be things like:

(1) Attend every tutorial to ensure I don’t miss any important content.
(2) Pay attention to referencing conventions in my essays to avoid losing marks.
(3) Start assessments early so that I don’t end up cramming the night before to get them done.

Now we have quite clear goals to work with, which are a bit more manageable than the much vaguer “pass my subjects” aspiration. But we can still go further, thinking more carefully about how we’ll actually achieve each of those goals by using specific strategies.

What are university strategies?

Strategies are specific tasks you can complete in order to achieve your goals. Using the goals listed above, corresponding strategies might be things like:

(1) Clearly block out class times in calendar at the start of the semester to ensure I don’t double-book.
(2) Print out referencing/citation guide to have on desk at all times when doing assignments.
(3) Set up assessment timeline at start of semester, and consult at the start of each week to see what’s coming.

As we start breaking down aspirations into goals, and then goals into strategies, things start to look a lot more manageable. Instead of “pass subjects”, you’re focused on things you can actually achieve on a day-to-day basis, and consistently using those strategies will ultimately result in success.

What are university standards?

Standards help us actually measure progress. They provide clear benchmarks for you to hit, ensuring that your strategies are specific and measurable. Using the same examples as above, standards might be things like:

(1) Keep track of tutorial attendance. Tick off each tutorial as attended.
(2) Get HD-standard mark on all referencing criteria based on marking rubric.
(3) Set an alarm for each Sunday night to review assessment calendar for week ahead.

How can you review progress?

As with all study strategies, different things will work for different people. This highly structured approach to goal-setting is just one suggestion of something you might like to try if your current strategy isn’t working for you.

Irrespective of your specific goal-setting strategy, however, it’s important to check in with yourself throughout the semester and year. It’s all good setting goals, but if you never revisit them, celebrate what worked well, and work out where improvements could be made, it’s harder to justify the point of setting goals in the first place.

It’s totally okay to revisit goals and realise that they need to be amended or tweaked. That’s all part of the process, but you have to start somewhere!

Best of luck with your goal-setting this semester.