Increasing Student Retention in Educational Institutions

Abstract

Higher education institutions, their constituent schools and departments, and newlineindividual academics have long been concerned with ensuring that students, once newlineenrolled, stay and successfully complete their courses, and that they get the most out newlineof them. The terms quotstudent retentionquot and quotstudent engagementquot are used to describe newlinethese two linked challenges. newlineStudent retention is the elder of the two problems, at least in terms of research, and newlinewas previously referred to by other, more negative words such student withdrawal, newlineattrition, and dropout. Though a relatively recent worry, student engagement, in which newlinethe student is as intimately involved in the higher education experience as feasible, newlinerepresents an evident good approach to the challenge of student retention. To put it newlineanother way, the more involved a student is with their higher education and the newlineinstitution from which they are receiving it, the less likely they are to drop out before newlinecompleting their studies. newlineThis thesis focuses on the intertwined concepts of student retention and student newlineengagement. In the last four decades, they have been among the most debated and newlineexamined areas of higher education. Before reaching certain conclusions, this article newlinefocuses on the origins and meaning of these notions, their application and practise, newlineand the challenges and objections that arise. newline