Student Retention

Journals and articles

• Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice
  A US based journal aiming to provide the educational community with current theoretical foundations, research and practice results, which will help educators and institutions to retain students through academic and personal goal completion.

Reports

• The first year experience in Australian universities: Findings from a decade of national studies (DEST, 2005)
  This report provides information for the first time on the changes over a ten year period in the attitudes and experiences of first year students in Australian universities.[PDF, 115 pages]

• Student retention in the School of Business at JCU
  A report by the School of Business Teaching & Learning Committee on an Exit Survey of Withdrawals 31 March 2004-13 May 2005. The reports outlines the reasons for withdrawl, student suggestions for improvement and provides a summary of findings and recommendations. [PDF, 8 pages]

Web sites and documents

• The art of student retention: a handbo ok for practitioners and administrators
  This guide from the Educational Policy Institute in Texas explores the reasons why students leave, the cost of attrition (individual, institutional and societal), provides a framework for student retention, and advice of implementing a institution wide retention program.

• International Centre for Student Retention
  A division of the Educational Policy Institute, an international think tank on educational opportunity, StudentRetention.org was launched in spring 2005 to support the needs of international educators, administrators, researchers, and policymakers looking for answers to the complex problems of student departure. A welath of resources, information and strategies related to student retention.

• First Year Experience: Enhancing students' academic orientation and transition
  A project of the University of Sydney offering a comprehensive annotated bibliography of Australian research on the First Year Experience and University Transition Programs as well as a list of key research reports, journal articles and other publications

• Teaching Fi rst Year Students
  This site from Flinders University succinctly identifies many of the issues and challenges of teaching first year students including: large class sizes, coordination difficulties, extra planning and feedback requirements, amongst other issues; and suggests strategies to address them.

• The S.T.A.R Project (Student Transition and Retention)
  The STAR project based at the University of Ulster (UK) intends to improve the student experience on entering higher education. It will define the purpose of induction and introductory activities; identify practices which are fit for this purpose; disseminate this good practice through publications, a website and workshops; promote innovation through a phase of project funding; and monitor the impact of changed practices.

• Transition
  This page outlines current JCU transition programs and provides links to transition programs in other Australian universities along with a selection of journal articles and reports on transition and the first year experience.

• The First Year Experience Project Report [PDF]
  This document from the University of Queensland reports on First Year Experience activities at a number of Australian universities, including innovative first year practice across a range of discplines.

• Today’s Transfer Students – Spanning Generations and Ages: Characteristics Influencing Their Patterns of Choice
  An interesting presentation from the April 2006 AACRAO conference examining the nature of the millennial student including: Generational characteristics (similarities and differences), Needs of transgenerational transfer students, Factors influencing their patterns of choice, Challenges for Enrollment Management, and Strategies and best practices to enhance the transfer process.

• First Year Resources (University of NSW)
  Contains a useful collection of links in the categories of: general first-year experience issues, transition, student learning, diversity, first-year student peer, mentoring, and factors influencing students' choice of university, course, or degree