Forgot your password?
NATFHE 2001
Citation Text:
NATFHE (2001) Higher Education: Student Retention. Paper Submitted to the Education and Employment Select Committee Inquiry. London: HMSO.Editorial Comment:
Focus of the study
This submission to the Education and Employment Select Committee considers the evidence in relation to the retention of students in higher education and the reasons why students drop out.
Key Findings
The quality and nature of academic and pastoral support that students receive are fundamental to student retention. There is a clear link between drop out rates and the numbers of students coming into higher education from non-traditional HE backgrounds. Recent development in HE such as the reduction in lecturer and classroom contact time place increased pressure on students to work autonomously and be self-directed in their learning. NATFHE suggest that it is in fact only the most able, confident and well prepared students who can be expected to organise their own learning from the outset.
Additional comments
The NATFHE paper does not consider the role of guidance in helping to reduce drop out rates. Indeed, neither does it consider whether a lack of guidance leads to poor retention. The papers are concerned with other overriding factors that cause students such as hardship, diminished academic support, developments in teaching and learning strategies including changes in course structures, modularisation, semesterisation and amount of teaching and teacher: student ratios.