Importance of the Study
Discuss about the Literature Review for Australian Higher Education Equity Perspective.
This paper is about student retention and success in higher education, and it will look at what strategy a Perth higher education college can implement to strengthen student connectedness. Retention is all about making it possible for the students to stay back and to succeed in the course they have chosen to study. This can be done by giving them the right guidance, clear instruction, full support and help in academics as well as their social adjustments, especially at the beginning of their first year in the universities/colleges. Also, when a student is successful it means he/she has benefitted from the higher education they have undertaken in a wide range of ways. They would notice that their personal development and career progression would have improved a great deal (Higher Educations Framework, for Retention, 2016).
It is important to study this issue because if you do not understand the ways to help students to succeed and stay, they will automatically drop out of the university. The number of students entering into higher education keeps on increasing. As a result of this massive increase, student retention and its converse – attrition – has become a major concern for all the Higher Education institutions. All such institutions are putting in more efforts to evaluate and improve student retention because student retention and successful outcomes is possibly the main indicator of the institutions’ performance (Spies, 2016).
There are particular reasons for this sudden increase in student numbers. According to Krause, more international students have come to study at the higher education level. In addition, local students have more availability of courses to study. Another reason for an increase in enrolments is because of the marketing strategy of higher education providers to promote education to a wider audience (massification) (2017). For example, here in Australia, over 2.5 years the number of students in the higher education system has risen from 400,000 to over 1.22 million. This is an increase of 200% since the 1987 Dawkins reforms (Krause, 2017).
When there is such a massive increase in the number of students in higher education, it becomes a concern and need for all the universities to demonstrate ways in which the quality and standards of higher education offerings are monitored and assured. According to Lang,“Over the past two decades, the attrition of students in higher education has raised grave concerns” (2002, p. 217).
Determinants of Student Satisfaction and Retention
The higher education institutions need to focus more on how to attract and retain students rather than just focusing on enrolment management. It is equally important to consider what could be done, what new programs can be introduced to help students to succeed and stay after they are being enrolled to the institutions. As Kara and Deshields state, “Similar to the importance of satisfying customers to retain them for profit making institutions, satisfying the admitted students is also equally important for retention” (2004).
The higher Education institutions have to go beyond the thinking that simply opening doors to the students is enough. They cannot generalize everyone has equal learning capacity and every student’sprior knowledge and experience is the same. In Australia an increasing number of international students are admitted into the higher education institutions every year. They are being introduced to very different learning styles and higher standards. In addition, many international students get culture shock. All these reasons hamper the ability of international students to cope with what is being taught and this will leave them in the middle of nowhere. So it is very important to take into account all these issues rather than just taking for granted that the same thing works for everyone. For example, Drake (2011, p.9) claims, “We have long since left in the dust the notion that simply opening our doors to students is enough, that once here, they can negotiate their own way through our own byzantine, labyrinthine curriculum, processes, and hallowed halls.”Drake goes on to suggest that,“student retention and persistence should be more than ever the coin of the realm” (2011, p.9).
Higher education institutions are considered an important place where students can develop academically, socially and emotionally.Their level of stress will be less and can adjust socially when they feel close and connected towards the institutions. As a result, they can do better academically. Their progression in academics will motivate them to stay and succeed (Tao, Dong, Pratt, Humsberger, & Pancer, 2000).
Attrition rate at the higher education level will be less and universities can retain more students if they make sure the students feel connected,especially in their first year experience. To support this, Tinto(as cited in Drake, 2011) claims:
Though the intentions and commitments with which individuals enter college matter, what goes on after entry matters more. It is the daily interaction of the person with other members of the college/universityin both the formal and informal academic and socialdomains of the college and person’s perception or evaluation of the character of thoseinteractions that in large measure decisions as to staying or leaving. (1987, p. 127).
The specific research questions I have developed for this research study are
- What strategy can a Perth higher education college implement to strengthen student connectedness?
- Why retention and success is important in higher education?
Even though there have been some studies done in this area, there has been calls for more research to be done. Doing this action research project will help the college to develop stronger strategies to meet the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold standards) 2015 specifically student participation and attainment and well-being and safety. In the section about student participation and attainment, standard 1.3 talks about orientation and progression. 1.3.2 Identifies specific strategies to support transition but does not mention connectedness. Whereas in the literature connectedness is identified as the main component for student retention and success (Harding&Thompson, 2011). So this study will give opportunities to include connectedness in Higher Education Standards Framework as it is not there at the moment.
Whether students remain at higher education institutions depends on many reasons. These complex reasons may be because of having students from different cohorts. Although it is the responsibility of the institutions to look at ways to help student retention and success, there are many student factors outside of the university’s control such as personal, financial andlife issues. However, there are some obvious reasons which determines student retention which are somewhat in control of the university. Some of these are discussed in detail below.
Thefield of studytaken by the student is one major thing which has a great impact on student satisfaction. Students may not do well if they choose the wrong course which they are not interested in. Sometimes situations do not allow them to study in the field they want to. There are many factors which make this happen. For instance, an international student has a background in nursing and that field interests him, but a high IELTS score can be a barrier to be eligible for that. So when he has to choose a different field of study, he will not be able to perform well and that will not motivate him to stay and succeed (Lenton, 2015as cited in Li and Carroll,2017).
Staff-to-student ratio is another important reason that determines retention and success. Students can get more attention and guidance from the lecturer if there are less students in a class and vice versa. The better the staff responds to the student needs, the more the student satisfaction is. Getting more guidance will definitely help them to perform better academically. They will feel the connectedness which helps them to develop socially, academically and emotionally.
According to Zineldein et al. (2011), the other things which determine student retention arethe quality of university infrastructure specifically the physical appearance, cleanliness of class rooms as well as the quality of equipment such as computers (ascited inLi & Carroll, 2017).
Dodgson andBolam (as cited in Heaton-Sherestha et al, 2008) identified the use of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) in the universities of the North East of the UK –to provide support and online guidance–which helped student retention. The use of ICT helped in improving social integration. Offering advanced means of communication and interaction was considered as one of the key contributors of student retention. Using ICTgave more flexible options for students to study and learn. When such facilities were available, it allowed them to access resources and services without the need to physically attend lectures and classes. The universities in the North East believed the developments in flexible learning helped a lot in student retention.
The other important reason that determines student retention is ‘connectedness’ which in other words is the relationship and the belongingness between staff and students and between students themselves. This is indicated in the University of Tasmania’s Retention and Success Strategy(2015-2017), “At the heart of successful retention and success is a strong sense of belonging in Higher Education for all students.” In addition to this, George Kuh, (as cited inDrake,2011, p. 10) states, “Just as important as the time and effort students put into their coursework is the way institutions support strategies that connect students to the campus environment and high-impact learning experiences.”
Furthermore, Harding& Thompson (2011) also found students can succeed and stay when they feel that strong connectedness. In fact, this connectedness can act as a key which will enable students to engage, develop and succeed.
Successful learning relationships with staff and students are important as this relationship is one main thing which can assist students to stay and succeed. It is important for staff to communicate with students right at the beginning clearly and precisely. This is especially important during induction when information is given about the expectations regarding their development as learners. This relationship between the two can influence student retention to a greater deal. The effectiveness of help and guidance given by the staff to the students especially at the beginning can make a lot of difference in the journey of their success.
The other reason is the lack of confidence and /or motivation. This can act as a bar which hampers student’s development as learners.It obviously has a negative impact on student retention.
Student learning, motivation and success highly depends on the type of relationship they have with their staff.The appearance of the teachers (how they look), the way they teach and any action which shows that staff were more important than students can make the relationship between the two less (Harding & Thompson, 2011).
Arranging social events such as a get together lunch or organising a family picnic canhelp to strengthen the relationship between the two. Such events will give more time for interaction and to know each other more. Students want to be recognised by the teacher. They want staff to see them as a person. They do not want their staff to see them as a part of a large group they have to teach.
Peer mentoring is another thing which helps students to feel that connectedness. It is a one-to-one supportive relationship between the student and another older student having more abilities and experience. Senior students will have better and more recent experience of how the things work at the Higher Education institutions which new students may be struggling with (Tao et al, 2000).
Studies have shown significant decrease in levels of self-esteem in students at institutions especially during the first year. The student’s first year at the institution is the crucial year for them. This is the turning point for them to decide whether to stay and succeed or to drop out. So at this point of time, peer mentoring can be considered a source of social support. It can offer higher levels of integration to university. Peer mentoring can also help to bring down a student’s intention of leaving the university as senior students can help first year students to figure out how things work. It should be used as a tool to support incoming first-year students (Philip & J, 2007).
Since student retention and success has become a great concern for all the institutions around the globe, some institutions have already started looking at ways/methods to retain students. Some examples of them are discussed below in detail.
Retention strategy at University of Tasmania. The University of Tasmania (UTAS) has its own retention and success strategy. The focus is on student successand to see good progress in their academics. Their first step towards successful student retention and success is to discover the factors that makes students to success. They focused particularly on the transition and retention of first year students. The method they adopted is connecting everyone across the institution. They make partnerships between teaching staff and supporting staff. They make themselves sure they look into the curricular and co-curricular designs. The university has their own ways of looking at student transition, engagement and support which includes partnerships between academic and professional staff. They make sure to look into both curricular and co-curricular design, transition, engagement and support. Encouraging a sense of belongingness or in other words looking at ways to making students feel that connectedness is their top priority of their retention and success strategy (University of Tasmania, 2015-2017).
Retention strategies at Murdoch and Curtin,WA. Another Australian study is done locally here in Perth at Murdoch University. Researchersat Murdoch University looked at ways to retain students in their free delivered programs called On track and on track sprint. They foundstrong peer and tutor-student relationships helped to a great deal in making students to stay and complete the programs. Engaging learners with humour and story-telling are the practices they used to promote community connections and this influenced student retention. DrLisciandro said, “Good student-tutor communication was a key factor too. For example, for the first week of Sprint, unit coordinators sent ‘how are you travelling?’ emails after students had left for the day”(2016, p. 201).In their paper for the Australian Journal of Adult Learning, Dr Lisciandro and Gael Gibbs said, “A sense of belonging or connectedness fostered by the mode of delivery of the course, was strongly associated with improved retention of first year university students”(2016).
Another Perth university in Bentley (Curtin University) has initiatives called START which stands for Student Transition and Retention Team (START). STARTimplements programs and initiatives that help student transition to university. It also focuses on helping students to successfully complete their studies. Under START, they have a program called ‘mentoring for new students’. This mentoring programs is a way of connecting new students with more experienced current student in the same area of study. This usually happens at the beginning of first semester. Each mentor has a group of students from their own course so new students will get opportunity to connect in their course. This is one way of how retention is looked at Curtin University (Curtin University, 2012).
First-year students coping withstress in the UK.There has been a lot of change in the UK Higher Education in the last 30 years. Polytechnics were replaced by new universities and the government made new policies which stated that all the students should get admitted to universities. This change in the policy led to an increase in the number of students going to universities.There was rapid increase in the numbers and expenditure on grants and the cost of tuition was shifted onto the students through student loans. This, therefore, increased student debt and financial pressures (Denovan & Macaskiil , 2013). As per the National Union of Students, as cited in Denovan&Macaskill, 2013, students had to work to cope with this financial stress, and this negatively affected their studies. They missed their classes and this led to poor attendance. When they missed the classes, they did not have any idea of what was happening and as a result they landed up not being able to submit their work on the given deadlines. Not being on the right track increased their stress level and this would have let them to withdraw from the course.
Robotham and Julian, as cited in Denovan&Macskill,2013, state the transition to university in addition to financial and employment pressure is a period of significant change in a student’s life that increased the level of stress. In order to keep going with all the stresses, studentsused various strategies. Problem-focused and adaptive coping strategies helped them tomanage difficulties easy. Another important strategy was support network that helped students to adjust to university and to cope with stress.Hinderlie& Kenny, as cited in Denovan&Macaskill,2013, claimthe lack of a support network led the students to take decisions to withdraw from the university.Research shows that social support is a central factor in the successful adjustment of first-year students to university and for academic perseverance.
This section will detail the methods and materials of the proposed research like research design, participants, research procedure, data collection, and data analysis.
Darren who is the principal of the college is the participant. In addition, students within the college would also be included in the study as participants.
The design used in this study is action research design. Action research has four stages which are planning, acting, developing and reflecting stage.
The planning stage will involve drafting a plan of the things and goals that need to be achieved. This will cover the various aspects of the research study that will be conducted by the researcher. These activities comprise of planning on how the activities for gathering data for the study will be conducted. The activities in this stage will include data collection, preliminary diagnosis, feedback of results, and joint action planning. Additionally, it will involve planning on how surveys, drafting of the questionnaires, sampling and selection of participants, and other important activities will be conducted. It is in this stage that the researcher becomes aware of the problems in the education system that may need change.
This is the transformation phase. At this stage, the actions relating to the study is analyzed through behavioral changes and feedback from the study will be provided. At this stage, the feedback is transmitted through the feedback loop. It would have the effect of altering the situation on the ground through changes in the way things are done at the management level to encourage student retention after enrollment into college.
At this stage, changes are effected in the institution of higher learning in order to reduce student dropouts after enrollment into the school. Thus, this stage includes actual changes in school policies as a form of corrective action to reduce the number of dropouts from college. Afterwards, data is again collected to determine the level of progress made as well as determine if another adjustment is required in order to fix the problem completely.
By and large, the research carried out is a descriptive research. Descriptive research refers to investigating human experience through surveys and case studies with the intention of experiencing and formulating theory. Before the data collection process begins, a representative sample will be selected to take part in the research. Thus, the investigator will conduct a random sampling around the college and identify students to take part in the study as respondents to the survey.
It is worth noting that the desire to understand the various factors that affect student retention in college, two areas of investigation were identified.
Background of the student. This factor plays a crucial role in determining the retention level of the students in college. Students from extremely poor families have a lower chance of remaining in school than those from well off families.
Attitude of the student towards education. Whereas some students were keen to gain a good collection education, others are less keen about it. Thus, they have a higher chance of dropping out of college.
The management and the students from the college are the main target for this study. Thus, the research will conduct a random survey and sampling of 200 students to act as respondents for the study. On the other hand, for the management, all the top management staff in the school that deal closely with students and student affairs will be included as part of the respondents for the study. This will include the principal, human resource manager, the dean of students in various departments and schools, and some professors in the school who will be willing to take part in the survey.
I will use qualitative method to carry out the research and then to collect data. Therefore, the data will be collected in the form of surveys, interviews and questionnaires. It is worth pointing out that the survey would consist of both forced choice responses and open-responses. Likewise, the interview questions will comprise of closed and open ended questions. On the other hand, questionnaires will include YES or NO response questions as well as open ended ones in order to obtain as much data as possible from the methods.
Given that the data is mainly qualitative, a qualitative data analysis (QDA) tool such as ANOVA shall be used to analyze the information gathered from the surveys, interviews and questionnaires. Firstly, all the data gathered in the field shall be transcribed into a word processing package. Afterwards, the data will be coded into themes using the ANOVA software to look for specific words and phrases in the responses given by the respondents of the study. What follows is a generalization of the themes about the phenomena in question and an interpretation in the light of the available information. From the results of the themes, the results would show the factors that contribute to high levels of dropouts from the institutions of higher learning across the country.
- Forced-choice responses will be tabulated according to the frequency of choice by the students and members of faculty. These responses were listed in the order of importance.
- Open-response data will be context analysed and tallied, and where applicable graphs will be constructed to facilitate information assimilation.
Interviews. Out of the total number of surveys conducted, 50 out of 200 students were selected for formal interviews. These interviews were conducted using an interview schedule (Appendix A). The information gathered through this method was presented in the form of text, tables and charts
Questionnaires. Out of the 200 students, 100 were selected randomly to fill in the questionnaires. Their responses were transcribed and analyzed using the ANOVA software to determine the key factors that lead to college dropouts by students in institutions of higher learning within the country and the rest of the world.
One of the strengths of Action research is it is a way to get many stakeholders (like teachers, administrators and other related staff) involved in the improvement of how curriculum is taught and learnt. Action research if it is collaborative encourages people who have, “different perspectives, ideas, experiences and resources to come and work together (Mertler as cited in Mertler 2017, p21).
The study fulfils all the ethical guidelines of research. All potential participants will be requested to give an informed consent and make an independent decision to take part in the study. All participants will be treated with respect from the time they are approached to take part in the research to the end of their participation. The study will also conduct a fair subject selection through random sampling to ensure a representative sample as much as possible. Most importantly, the researcher will maintain respondent confidentiality and anonymity. The researcher will prevent any use and communication of information that may inflict damage to the participants of the study. All in all, the study will be conducted in a manner that portrays integrity, impartiality, fairness, and quest for the truth on the part of the researcher.
Conclusion.
It has been found that support network strategies are important to help students connect with each other. Even though there have been some studies in this area, more research needs to be done to find strategies to help retention. This research will investigate how to support student retention. The study will utilize an action research strategy but will focus on qualitative data. A random sample consisting of 200 students and 50 members of faculty will be selected to inform the study. The data collection process will be predominantly qualitative and will take the form of interviews, surveys and questionnaires for the students. All qualitative data will be analysed using Qualitative Data Analysis tools such as ANOVA.
References
Curtin University. (2012). Curtin life: Student transition and retention. Retrieved March 28,
2018 from https://life.curtin.edu.au/staff/student_transition_and_retention.htm
Denovan, A., & Macaskiil , A. (2013). An interpretative phenomenological analysis of stress and coping in first year under graduates. British Educational Research Journal , 39 (6), 1002-1024.
Drake, J. K. (2011, July-August). The Role of academic Advising in Student Retention and Persistence .
Harding, J., & Thompson, J. (2011). Disposition to stay and succeed.
Haskins, A. R., & Sanchez, N. k. (2006). recruitment and retention of students from minority groups.
Heaton-Shrestha, C., May, S., & Burke, L. (2009). Journal of Further and Higher Education. Student retention in higher education:what role for virtual learning environments? , 83-92.
Higher Educations Framework for retention . (2016). Retrieved from tps://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2015L01639
Kara, A., & DeShields, O. W. (2004). Business Student Satisfaction, Intentionsand Retention in Higher education:An Empirical Investigation , 3.
Krause, K. (2017). The Australian higher education student experience: A personal reflection on 15 years of research. HERDSA review of Higher Education , 4, 53-78.
Lang, M. (2002). Student Retention in Higher Education: some conceptual and programmatic perspectives. J.College student Retention , 3(3), 217-229.
Li, I. W., & Carroll, D. (2017). Factors Influencing University Student Satisfaction, Dropout and Academic Performance:An Australian Higher Education Equity Perspective. national Centre for Student Equity in Higher education(NCSEHE) .
Lisciandro, J., & Gibbs, G. (2016). Ontrack to University: Understanding mechanisms of student retention. Australian Journal of Adult Learning , 56 (2).
Philip, K., & J, S. (2007). A synthesis of published research on mentoring and befriending for the mentoring and befriending foundation .
Spies, M. (2016, November 29). Activating student retention and success. Retrieved from https://learningandteaching-navitas.com/articles/activating-student-retention-success/
Tao, S., Dong, Q., Pratt, M., Humsberger, B., & Pancer, S. M. (2000). Social Support:. Relations to coping and adjustments during the transitions to universityin the peoples Republic of China , 123-144.
University of Tasmania. (2015-2017). Retention and success strategy. Retrieved March 15, 2018 fromwww.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf…/Retention-and-Success-Strategy-2015-Pdf
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
