Is Drop-out from University Dependent on National Culture and Policy? The Case of Denmark

National cultures are known to influence educational institutions and practices in many ways. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that drop-out from university is also influenced by differences in national cultures. In this article, we compare drop-out from Danish universities with drop-out from European universities. Based on Danish national culture (characterised by individualism, low power distance, femininity, and low uncertainty avoidance) and on the high level of economic support for students, we find that drop-out from higher education in Denmark as compared to most other European countries is less influenced by socio-economic factors and by the students’ degree of social integration. Hence, our review of the research on drop-out identifies some differences that might rest on national cultural varieties. It also points to difficulties in comparing results from different research studies, not only in Denmark but also across Europe. This difficulty results from varieties in research designs and definitions of drop-out.     

Academic Fatalism: Applying Durkheim’s Fatalistic Suicide Typology to Student Drop-Out and the Climate of Higher Education

Student drop-out remains a critical issue facing educational professionals. For higher education, the vast research in the past 40 years has been influenced by the work of Tinto and his model of student persistence. In this model are several elements that have proven to sharpen the focus of student drop-out research such as the concept of integration. The philosophical foundation for these concepts stems from Durkheim’s work on suicide. Specifically, Tinto’s employs Durkheim’s “egotistical” suicide type as an analogy for student departure while attributing students’ departure as a decision to separate themselves from the academic community. However; assigning causation of student departure to students’ decisions stands in stark contrast to the theoretical underpinnings of Durkheim’s work. Durkheim believed that certain social tendencies cause suicides. If student drop-out is to be typified by a certain Durkheimian suicide “type,” then specific social facts must exist in those societies. In this article, student departure in higher education will be examined using Durkheim’s theory of suicide complemented with Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence. Egotistical suicide will then be re-examined as an analogy for student departure and the Durkheimian suicide “fatalistic” will be presented as suitable analogy for student departure.     

Do Local Study Environments Matter? A Multilevel Analysis of the Educational Careers of First-year University Students

This article examines the effects of local study environments on the achievements in higher education of Dutch undergraduate students. The authors find that the grade averages, the numbers of courses successfully completed, and the drop-out rates of students vary only slightly in terms of the higher education institution attended. Most of the differences observed are the results of individual factors, i.e., differences in the ways in which students select their institutions and differences in the degree of success of their academic integration into the institutions they chose. The results indicate that when students enroll in higher education there is little benefit for them in selecting the "right" institution. Academic achievement is shaped mainly by individual factors.     

德国的博洛尼亚改革与高等教育学制与学位结构变迁

经过十年来的博洛尼亚改革,德国在2009/2010冬季学期已有79.2%的专业采用了颁发学士/硕士学位的新学制。也就是说,颁发新型学位的专业已经在很大程度上取代了颁发传统学位的专业。不过,在新型学士/硕士专业注册的学生人数目前仅占全部学生人数的42.9%。这表明,博洛尼亚进程虽然改变了德国传统的学制与学位结构,但在德国尚未实现其预定的目标。传统与新型学制和学位的并存是当前德国高等教育体制的一个突出特点。此外,当前改革中出现的一些问题也令德国对博洛尼亚改革的改革变得必要。     

Degree flexibility and university drop-out: The Italian experience

How to reduce university drop-out is a topic of increasing concern. Although several measures have been the subject of numerous debates, little attention has been given to those impacting on the duration, structure and content of the supply of university education. This paper looks at the Italian experience to see what can be learnt about the effectiveness of these measures. In 2001, the Italian university system embarked on a process of reform that introduced greater flexibility in the degree programme structure along with a wider range of services offered to students. Employing a decomposition analysis, we find that this reform is associated with changes in student behaviour leading to a decline in drop-out risk.     

Towards a clearer understanding of student disadvantage in higher education: problematising deficit thinking

The increased diversity in the student body resulting from massification poses particular challenges to higher education. This article engages the uncritical use of the ‘disadvantage’ discourse and its effect on pedagogy. It explores some of the challenges of coping with student diversity, with particular reference to the South African context. Students enter higher education institutions with a variety of educational backgrounds, not all of which are considered to be sufficient preparation for the demands of higher education. The dominant thinking in higher education attempts to understand student difficulty by framing students and their families of origin as lacking some of the academic and cultural resources necessary to succeed in what is presumed to be a fair and open society. This constitutes a deficit thinking model: it focuses on inadequacies of students and aims to ‘fix’ this problem. In the process the impact of structural issues is often ignored or minimised. Employing a deficit mindset to frame student difficulties perpetuates stereotypes, alienates students from higher education and disregards the role of higher education in perpetuating the barriers to student success. In the process, universities replicate the educational stratification of societies. This article suggests that we need to find more suitable responses to diversity in the student body. These require a change in our way of thinking: we need thoughtfully to consider the readiness of higher education institutions to respond to students and to cultivate the will to learn in students. We need to find ways to research the full texture of the student experience and to value the pre-higher education contexts from which students come. In addition, the notion of ‘at risk’ students could be helpful and the original sense of the concept needs to be reclaimed.     

Institutional Characteristics and College Student Dropout Risks: A Multilevel Event History Analysis

In the past two decades, although access to higher education for American students has improved, student persistence in 4-year institutions is far from assured. There have been a number of research studies on student persistence/dropout in higher education, but most have focused on the characteristics and behavior of students as illustrated by the ??student-centered research tradition??. This study focuses on what institutional characteristics contribute to conditions that reduce student dropout risks. By analyzing longitudinal and hierarchical data, this research proposes and tests a multilevel event history model that identifies the major institutional attributes related to student dropout risk in a longitudinal process. Evidence indicates that institutional expenditure on student services is negatively associated with student dropout behavior. Implications of the results for institutional practices and future research are discussed.     

Student satisfaction with short learning programmes at a distance learning institution

Abstract

The relevance of short learning programmes as an alternative to full time tertiary degree courses at open and distance learning institutions forms the primary focus of this article. A new kind of student is on the increase in higher education: the mature student who prefers to study part-time in order to combine his or her studies with the advancement of his or her professional life. This kind of student is often interested in short duration, non-degree courses, such as short learning programmes, which have a high degree of specificity in order to update or expand the knowledge needed to enhance their occupational lives. Course applicability and effectiveness, evaluated as student satisfaction with these programmes, are vital in terms of the strategic planning of institutions. This article reports on an analysis of the dimensions that determine satisfaction with short learning programmes at a distance learning institution. Data was obtained by an electronic survey of students who had completed short learning programmes. Findings indicate that teaching staff, teaching methods and course administration are key elements to achieving satisfaction, and students’ loyalty to the institution is expressed in their intention to continue with their studies and to recommend the programmes to other prospective students.     

Community College Student Dropouts from Higher Education: Toward a Comprehensive Conceptual Model

ABSTRACT

Historically, higher education research has focused on traditional students (i.e., recent high school graduates at a residential, 4-year institutions), but community college students are quickly becoming the new traditional student (Jenkins, 2012). In the fall of 2011, more than one third (36%) of all students enrolled in postsecondary education and almost half (46.7%) of all students enrolled in a public postsecondary institution were enrolled at a community college (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2012). However, community colleges have struggled to match the persistence rates at other institutional types. The 2011 2-year public community college national 3-year persistence-to-degree rate was 26.9% (American College Testing [ACT], 2011). The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding the most prominent theoretical frameworks for community college student persistence and suggest a new theoretical construct. The resultant framework is termed the Collective Affiliation Model because it views the student’s sense of belonging with the college as only one of many senses of belonging in the student’s life (e.g., family, work). The Collective Affiliation Model does not view student dropout as the student’s inability to integrate into the life of the institution; rather, it views it as the institution’s inability to collectively affiliate with the student. This model’s strength is that it does not work from a student deficit model. Instead, it provides a new framework for researchers and practitioners to better understand and address student drop-out at community colleges.     

Bachelor’s Degree Completion Across State Contexts: Does the Distribution of Enrollments Make a Difference?

Growing accountability pressures, accompanied by a lack of readily accessible measures of institutional performance, have led to an increasing focus on graduation rates. Although previous research has illuminated myriad factors influencing students’ likelihood of educational success, it has not paid adequate attention to how state contexts may shape student outcomes. I build on the small but growing body of research exploring the role of state characteristics in facilitating student success in higher education. Controlling for a range of state and individual attributes, I examine how one aspect of the state context––the distribution of enrollments in 2 vs. 4-year public institutions––is related to bachelor’s degree attainment of students attending public 4-year colleges and universities. The results suggest that the larger the proportion of students attending community colleges in a state, the higher the probability of bachelor’s degree attainment at public 4-year institutions. This appears to be a product of student sorting: the presence of community colleges facilitates sorting of students into higher education in a way that is associated with higher degree completion at public 4-year institutions. These findings have important implications for research on student outcomes and policies aimed at evaluating the performance of public 4-year institutions.     

Mind the gap: Chinese diploma student views of bridges and barriers to transferring into a Canadian university

One common modality of transnational higher education partnerships is programme articulations. These agreements typically include 1?+?3 or 2?+?2 or 3?+?2 arrangements, whereby students study in their home institution first, and then transfer to complete their degree studies in a partner host institution. In this type of programme articulation agreement, the transfer of students from the home institution to the host institution is not necessarily guaranteed, with many steps and challenges in the students’ decision-making process. While there may be an expectation of articulation between countries and institutions when an agreement is signed, relationships, information and communication to support student transfer from home to host institution can be underestimated. This quantitative study examines a programme articulation arrangement between a Chinese polytechnic and a Canadian university, specifically through a student view. Findings identify barriers to articulation and also the information Chinese students identify as necessary to support their decision-making on whether to progress from a diploma (China) to a degree (Canada), and what types and frequencies of communication are expected.     

Values education and student satisfaction: German business students' perceptions of universities' value influences

As a result of the past decade's financial crises, the focus on students' values as an output of higher management education has increased. Simultaneously, marketing theory has become prevalent in the management of higher education institutions, such that student satisfaction represents a key output variable for their service provision. This study integrates both perspectives to investigate how values-oriented education relates to student satisfaction. A sample of 191 respondents from a German university reveals that business students expect more value influence than they believe their institution actually delivers. Furthermore, students' perceptions of the value influence delivered by their university increase their satisfaction with the institution. Finally, the value influence students expect is more closely associated with universalism values (connected to sustainability and CSR) than with power values. These results imply that universities can increase student satisfaction if they coordinate opportunities to discuss and shape values, particularly with regard to universalism ideals.     

The role of trust in creating value and student loyalty in relational exchanges between higher education institutions and their students

The globalization of educational services and the increasing competition coming from the private sector have forced higher education institutions to market their programs more aggressively and to look at student loyalty as the key for future success. Student loyalty to higher education institutions represents not only a more stable financial basis for such institutions but also continuing support for them after graduation. The present research examines the relational exchange process between higher education institutions and their students. Specifically, it explores the process by which trust is first developed and then translated into students' perceived value of the higher education institutions, ultimately leading to the development of student loyalty toward those institutions. The identification of the components and the outcomes of student trust are presented on the basis of Sirdeshmukh, Singh, and Sabol's trust–value–loyalty framework.     

Determinants of timely completion: the impact of Bachelor's degree programme characteristics and student motivation on study progress

Timely completion of university degree programmes is a topic of growing concern to higher education institutions and their students. This paper reports on a study about the impact of degree programme characteristics and student motivation on study progress. The setting for the study is a Dutch law school. Data on degree programme characteristics, student ability, motivation, academic performance and academic pressure were collected from 168 first-year students six months after the start of their studies. Analysis of the effects of degree programme characteristics and students' initial motivation on study progress shows that study progress mainly depends on ability, timely completion goals and transparency of assessments. The study also shows that transparency of assessment procedures considerably lowers fear of failure and academic pressure.     

‘Fitting in’ or ‘standing out’: Working‐class students in UK higher education

Drawing on case studies of 27 working‐class students across four UK higher education institutions, this article attempts to develop a multilayered, sociological understanding of student identities that draws together social and academic aspects. Working with a concept of student identity that combines the more specific notion of learner identity with more general understandings of how students are positioned in relation to their discipline, their peer group and the wider university, the article examines the influence of widely differing academic places and spaces on student identities. Differences between institutions are conceptualised in terms of institutional habitus, and the article explores how the four different institutional habituses result in a range of experiences of fitting in and standing out in higher education. For some this involves combining a sense of belonging in both middle‐class higher education and working‐class homes, while others only partially absorb a sense of themselves as students.     

Has the quality of teaching and learning processes improved as a result of the implementation of quality assurance coordinated by the state?

Faced with the rapid pace of knowledge expansion, higher education institutions are challenged to raise the efficacy of student education, overcoming the traditionally rigid teaching-centred approach, and shifting the focus instead towards learning, while preparing competent professionals who are able to self-manage knowledge. This paper outlines the impact that quality assurance processes have had on teaching and learning processes from the perspectives of their main stakeholders: students, teachers and academic authorities. The study was carried out in three private higher education institutions of Argentina identified as having introduced certain changes focusing on quality in the education process. Arguably, a higher degree of empowerment of institutional authorities has been noted regarding teaching management and greater attention is being paid to teaching modes; however, the paper concludes that it is still early to ascertain the direct impact that these transformations will have on learning outcomes.     

Longitudinal analysis of the environmental attitudes of university students

This article addresses the important questions that higher education institutions ask concerning their impact on their students’ sustainability-related attributes ‘How do our students’ worldviews change as they experience higher education with us?’ The process of monitoring such a dynamic entity is fraught with statistical complexity but may not be impossible for an institution willing to ask whether or not its educational efforts in ‘education for sustainability’, ‘education for sustainable development’ or ‘environmental education’, and campus sustainability developments, are paralleled by changes in the attitudes of its students. We describe here a longitudinal survey process based on the revised New Ecological Paradigm scale, with two cohorts of students, in three programmes of study, operating over four years, with multiple survey inputs by each student. We implemented the longitudinal analysis using a linear mixed-effects model and describe here the development and testing of this model. We conclude that higher education institutions can benchmark the sustainability attributes of their students and monitor changes, if they are minded to. We invite higher education practitioners worldwide to join us in further developing suitable research instruments, processes and statistical models, and in further analysing the assumptions that link higher education to sustainability and to global citizenship.     

Engaging with Higher Education Academic Support: a first year student teacher transition model

The need for a redefinition of first year experience in higher education is advocated with the aid of two models, which, although focused on a sample of Australian pre-service teaching students, is proposed as generalisable across the first year. Introduction to the mores of higher education is generally supported by teaching institutions during Orientation days and into the first few weeks of study on the assumption that students are then prepared for academic study. Institutions have invested significantly in providing a range of resources and services to support this process but their effectiveness relies on their timely and appropriate use by students. It is proposed that first year students' transition be identified as the FYST, a unique and important experience and the first of a series of transitions that occur throughout tertiary study. It is also argued that student engagement should be explicitly linked to critical points in the academic programme. Student teacher focus group feedback suggests that Timely, Individualised, and Prioritised Survival [TIPS] support may be key to aiding students' transition to higher education and valuable to student retention.     

Bursaries and Student Success: a Study of Students from Low-Income Groups at Two Institutions in the South West

This article draws on quantitative and qualitative data from two institutions to compare the student experience of those with and without bursary awards. Using the student life cycle model, the article examines the ways in which bursaries impact on the student experience before they enter the institution, in the early weeks of their studies and as they progress through their programmes. At these two institutions, students with bursaries were more likely to be retained and to perform well during the first year than those without bursaries. The study found that bursaries can ease financial pressures during their transition to higher education (HE) and that institution‐specific bursaries can affect students’ perceptions of an institution and their commitment to succeed. After 2006, those institutions wishing to charge variable fees will be required to provide bursary support for low‐income students. The findings from this article suggest that HE providers should consider the timing of the bursary payments and the implicit message the bursary sends to applicants if they want to ensure that their bursaries have a positive impact on the student experience.     

A conceptual framework for analysing the impact of influences on student engagement and learning

The notion that ‘customer satisfaction’ should be the ultimate measure of quality provision of any service organization is often accepted in the higher education context. However, measuring the quality of an educational institution based on students’ satisfaction is insufficient as it diverts the focus from student development, advancement and growth to an affective evaluation of the service. More appropriate measures of quality of higher education institutions are student engagement and learning. This study describes the likely impact of perceived overall quality of higher education institutions on student engagement. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it draws attention to the importance of higher education institution quality as the main institutional-level determinant of student engagement and, second, it suggests a comprehensive multilevel conceptual framework for its empirical testing.