For school leaders and policy makers alike, it often appears that the popular media never met a crisis in student performance in mathematics it didn’t like. One approach to unpack this challenge is to focus on the transition of students from school to university. Particularly, university academics sometimes suggest schools and teachers could do more to prepare students for university studies and thereby ease the challenges students meet in their first year of higher education. I argue that many of these challenges arise out of the structure and practices of higher education, and that it must be the universities that develop systems to support students in transition. I will also consider the tyranny of high stakes examinations and policies motivated by national and international tests that often interfere with what both schools and universities want – engaged and well educated students.
