Improving Student Retention by Providing Targeted Support to University Students who do not Submit an Early Assessment Item

The Charles Sturt University Retention Team has developed, tested, evaluated, and refined a retention model through 14 action-research cycles from 2017-2021. The project has expanded from a small pilot in one faculty to monitoring the engagement and submission of an early assessment item for over 70% of all commencing undergraduate students across the University. The Retention Model synergistically overlays curriculum design and student support and ensures academics embed best practice transition pedagogy and learning engagement activities into key first-year subjects. By monitoring the submission of early assessment items, the team can accurately identify and proactively contact students who are not engaged in their studies prior to their first census date. Every aspect of this program supports equity student groups that are over-represented at our regional university. This work has significantly improved commencing progress rates across the institution.

A Meta-analysis of University STEM Summer Bridge Program Effectiveness

A meta-analysis of university STEM summer bridge programs found that participation had a medium-sized effect on first-year overall GPA ( d = 0.34) and university retention (Odds Ratio OR] = 1.747). Although the analysis reflects the limited available data, it provides much-needed research on programs’ objective effectiveness and guides future program development.

See, Reflect, and Act: Using Equity Audits to Enhance Student Success

Promoting the success of all students is one of four institutional goals at Texas State University. Retention and graduation rates provide information regarding the academic progress and success of specific student cohorts. To gain a deeper insight into student success within the undergraduate kinesiology/exercise and sports science program at Texas State University, an equity audit was conducted during the fall 2019 academic semester. An equity audit provides a lens to critically examine institutional data to identify inequities in academic programs and student achievement based on specific variables, such as gender, age, race, and socioeconomic status. This article provides a model for conducting an equity audit in kinesiology/exercise and sports science programs, reports the findings, and highlights strategic actions implemented to combat inequities in student success.

When the Journey is as Important as the Destination: Time-Averaged Retention as an Alternate Measure of Student Engagement and Program Impact

University retention and completion rates underestimate true levels of student participation because of their reliance on measurements taken at commencement (or census date) and end of a program. As a result, these statistical snapshots miss what happens in between, failing to capture the true reach of the teaching and learning process, as well as the effort and resources involved. This is problematic when these numbers drive debate over higher education policy or institutional decisions over resource allocation. Here we propose a way of turning retention statistics into a more meaningful measurement of student participation, that we term engagement. In the context of this article, engagement is a calculated quantity based on the time-averaged student retention of a program or course. We argue that it addresses the shortcomings of snapshot metrics and provides some much-needed insight into student participation. We motivate its adoption and illustrate its use with worked examples, as a guide to practitioners, researchers and policymakers in the field.

A New Pathway to University Retention? Identity Fusion With University Predicts Retention Independently of Grades

Individuals who are “strongly fused” with a group view the group as self-defining. As such, they should be particularly reluctant to leave it. For the first time, we investigate the implications of identity fusion for university retention. We found that students who were strongly fused with their university (+1 SD) were 7–9% points more likely than weakly fused students (−1 SD) to remain in school up to a year later. Fusion with university predicted subsequent retention in four samples ( N = 3,193) and held while controlling for demographics, personality, prior academic performance, and belonging uncertainty. Interestingly, fusion with university was largely unrelated to grades, suggesting that identity fusion provides a novel pathway to retention independent of established pathways like academic performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The Factors Affecting University Retention/ Attrition By Big Data Analytics

Using the enrolment data at the Faculty of Business (FOB) in one Canadian University, we perform the big data analysis to examine the cause of attrition: a) the existence of potential risk group and b) the potential courses, which can be the predictors of student attrition in the first few years in the university. The logistic regression was used to find the potential predictors for students’ retention, and the cluster analysis also suggests the existence of inherently high-risk groups in students. By providing support for the high-risk group to successfully complete courses, the retention rate could be improved.

The Impact of Distance Education on University Retention Rates

This study uses new measures of distance education to assess the impact on retention rates at 4-year public and private non-profit universities in the U.S. We present evidence that the percent of undergraduates enrolled exclusively in distance education courses reduces a university’s freshmen retention rate, particularly for institutions with a relatively low median SAT score. We find no clear evidence of lower retention rates when undergraduates are enrolled in a combination of on-campus and distance education courses. These findings suggest increased enrollment through distance education can come at the expense of lower retention.

Understanding Commitment

Various factors have shown to relate to different forms of career commitment (i.e., affective, continuance, and normative commitment). Commitment has been associated with intent to remain within a profession or organization, suggesting that commitment is an important component of career retention. Correspondingly, commitment to one’s academic major may also provide information about university retention. The current study examined fit (e.g., objective and subjective), attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment, satisfaction, involvement, and intention to quit), and demographic (e.g., semesters in major) factors that have been previously related to career commitment to investigate the construct of major commitment of undergraduate students ( N = 303). Using canonical correlation analysis, several significant relationships were found with approximately 69% and 67% of the shared variance between the three forms of major commitment and other variables for Black and White students, respectively, being explained.

Assessing the Effect of Breakout Sessions on Student Success and Satisfaction

ABSTRACTIntroductory American government is a common component of college and university core curricula and, as such, it often is taught in large sections. This makes active learning more difficult, which may contribute to student dissatisfaction and lower levels of student achievement. In turn, this can affect larger issues of university retention. This article considers whether different models of instruction in large classes affect student success and satisfaction. We compare a lecture-only class and one that combined lectures with smaller student breakout sessions. To our surprise, we found that students in the breakout—lecture class were not more satisfied and did not succeed at higher levels as compared to their peers in the lecture-only class. Above all, attendance is the key predictor of student success.