First, I'd like to say that I'm not an expert in student retention.
That being said, I did want to relate an interesting conversation I had with someone that is deeply involved with student success/retention work.
She mentioned that the most recent research into attrition rates seems to indicate that "life getting in the way" is really just acceptable code words for "I don't feel comfortable telling you why I've dropped."
Since this was general conversation, I didn't ask for references. :) I also have no idea how accurate the info is because I don't know said person that well. I do know that socially acceptable reasons for ditching a course seems a bit analogous to the socially acceptable taking of sick days... after all, how many adults in the US take sick days when they're really not sick (just sick of work or sick of the routine...) LOL.
However, the info does seem to be full of many possibilities for different avenues of discussion (validity of survey instruments, life/work/school balance and when we're more likely to accept a little imbalance for the sake of education, attrition rates in compulsory versus volunteer courses, etc.).
It is very difficult to
It is very difficult to obtain accurate figures for retention of students not least because the definition of what constitutes retention varies. HEFCE produces performance indicators for non-continuation following year of entry. These show that for young entrants (aged 18 -25) in engineering and technology, non-continuation figures are one or two percentage points higher than the average for all subjects.
After making the assumption that most institutions will respond to the question “do you want to improve retention” with a resounding “yes”, below is a list of resources which should offer support to address this issue.
The FDTL project PROGRESS focussed at engineering student retention and progression and has produced a series of guides to learning and teaching practices which can help to imporve student retention.
We also encourage you to look within their your own university for guidelines regarding, focus, strategy and implementation of student retention.
____________________________
Submited by : Bebes
Software to bolster Student retention!
My name is Joyce and I am a Business development Execuitve at Quscient technologies. We are Business Process Outsourcing and Technology company founded by entrepreneur technologists and US Citizens, with a great focus on the Higher Education space.
We have developed and implemented successfully a Student Communication Management software called Quvarsity, which has been responsible for completely eliminating student service problems. This simple-to-use software completely integrates all points of contact with a student be it email or phone, tracks student issues to closure by providing means of escalation, transfer, assignment etc. To the college staff in touch with the student, the software offers the ability to raise problem tickets that can be tracked to satisfactory closure, attractive and useful dashboard reports, a 360 degree view of the student’s life cycle including milestones, instant messaging capability, reminder setting ability etc. The senior management in the college will be able to instantly monitor the student satisfaction levels real time, by the touch of a button. This software is very inexpensive and is being successfully used by Universities in the US to ensure higher level service to students and thus higher retention.
We have successfuly implemented this software in several institutions and increased student retention by enhancing student services therewith!
Thanks!
Joyce
archana.joyce [at] quscient [dot] com
703-310-6148
Commercial posts
Wow Joyce, that is quite the commercial! At first read, I was a little worried about this message being so commercial, but after thinking about it, this could be a great way to publicly discuss your organization's services, as well as others. Who are your competitors? We could compare products and share experiences, if anyone has any. Perhaps when someone posts something like this, it is a chance to ask direct questions about the shortcomings of the product, as well as the selling features? For example, this is not my area, but I have a hard time believing that a technology can "completely eliminate student service problems", as quoted in your post, no matter how innovative. It has been my experience that technology can only go so far when it comes to the human element.
Re:Commercial Posts
Hello James,
Ofcourse technology has it's shortcomings when it comes to the human element. However,technology provides all the resources necessary for us to take that crucial walk down the lane of human element.
Oftentimes we see that ERPs and Document Mangement Systems fail to give us the chronological list of the communication weaving back and forth from the students and the University. When a student issue arises and I have access to a '360 degree' profile of the student, it gives me one - an edge to gain the student's trust and two - the resource to identify and tackle the issue in the quickest route possible.
Since all communication and followup is documented, it ushers in more accountability and ownership,thus sealing all cracks that the student may fall through.
Do feel free to access : http://www.quscient.com/education/index.htm
and e-mail me so we could discuss our services if need be!
Best Regards,
Joyce
archana.joyce [at] quscient [dot] com
Student Retention
Bethany
I just joined this forum and your posting about student retention caught my attention.
I'm also not an expert in student retention but for the past 3 years, I've been actively involved in student retention project and I'm in charge of conducting orientations for online students.
The good news is, retention for online students has been increasing every semester. But a close look at our data and few interviews I also conducted with students showed that, some dropped from their courses because of personal reasons and they don't want to explain them to me. Every attempt to find out if any help from a staff or faculty could have helped them, they frankly tell me - "NO". I guess, for these kind of situations, the school can't do anything. But I still believe that, unless we know the problem, we can't help. Sadly, that is reality.