I have had a lot of interest in the general area of attrition but, unfortunately only one example of an exit interview questionnaire (anonymous version attached).

 <<AMENDWC.DOC>>   

The questionnaire above was designed to dovetail with the normal reporting requirements to LEA/SLC so it needs to be  viewed in this light. 

The message I seem to be getting is that this is an area that many colleagues are interested in but,  for most people, it seems to very early days.  The area of attrition is quite wide ranging and people are looking at it from many different perspectives.  What I am trying to do is :

a) Set up a common method ,at faculty level, for monitoring attrition and identifying any areas for follow up qualitative analysis (hence exit questionnaires).

b) Look at how this fits in with our current Academic Quality cycle 

c) Marry this up with issues of ensuring that we are not just widening access but also ensuring that we retain students from low participation neighbourhoods. This has implications for our Student Information Systems as we obviously need to get data on these groups of students specific to their non-continuation rates.     

Thanks to those that replied to me direct. The area is quite diverse so I will  follow up responses individually but post any useful summaries to the list.  Below are some useful publications and details of a conference...

HEFCE web site:www.hefce.ac.uk
Go to Publications.

Press Release from 15th December 1997 - Headline "Most students who drop out will return to Higher Education"

Circular 97/29. Undergraduate non-completion in higher education in England. - This is an executive summary of a full publication commissioned by HEFCE.  

Full text of the report by Professor Mantz Yorke and Prof. Jenny Ozga (Yorke, Ozga & Sukhnandan, 1997) is available from HEFCE for somewhere in the region of £10.    

Press Release - 3 December 1999. Headline "UK Higher Education has one of the lowest non completion rates in the world"

Report 99/66 - Performance Indications in Higher Education in the UK - See section on non-continuation rates.

31st January 2001 - House of Commons Sub-Committee Inquiry into Higher Education .. On non-completion.  

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE INTERESTED  A ONE DAY CONFERENCE ON THE 18TH MAY 2001 IS GOING TO BE HELD IN LONDON. PRICE £160. FURTHER DETAILS [log in to unmask] 


Tish Naughton
[log in to unmask] 
Faculty of Health & Environment
Queen Square House (QSH G31)
ext.4344


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Naughton, Patricia       [HES] 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 8:44 AM
> To:   'Admin-student'
> Subject:      Student Attrition - Exit Interviews
> 
> Has anyone done any work on student attrition that included the development of a standard exit interview questionnaire?  If so would they be willing to send me a copy?
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Tish Naughton
> [log in to unmask] 
> Faculty of Health & Environment
> Queen Square House (QSH G31)
> ext.4344
> 
> 
>