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Hi Ed Retention is very much a Commonwealth described metric for Australian HEPs, essentially the numbers of students in the system/institution/course measured from census date in year 1 to census date in year 2. It is a direct measure along with things like completion and attrition. This discussion paper<https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/final_discussion_paper.pdf> gives you an idea of its relevance in Australian HE and why, therefore, it is an agenda item over here. Cheers Ian Professor Ian Solomonides Vice President – Learning and Teaching Tel: 03 9919 5123 Mob: 0438 216 603 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> - www.vu.edu.au<http://www.vu.edu.au/> Twitter - @solfella<https://twitter.com/solfella> Executive Assistant – Sharon Baynes Tel: 03 9919 9440 Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Victoria University - PO Box 14428 MELBOURNE VIC 8001 CRICOS Provider No. 00124K (Melbourne) CRICOS Provider No. 02475D (Sydney) From: learning development in higher education network <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of "Foster, Ed" <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: "Foster, Ed" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Friday, 18 January 2019 at 7:16 pm To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Student Retention Literature (definitely low priority an ignorable) Hi Peter I think that student retention has grown in significance in the ‘last few years’. I’ve seen President Obama’s speeches cited in several recent US papers, but 2004 is still Bush. Oh look, there’s something in Wikipedia: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. (2002). Losing ground: A national status report on the affordability of American higher education. San Jose, CA. Print. (Shhhhhh don’t tell the students) From: LDHEN <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Peter Hartley <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: Peter Hartley <[log in to unmask]> Date: Monday, 7 January 2019 at 09:56 To: LDHEN <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Student Retention Literature (definitely low priority an ignorable) I do recall a colleague who was quite proud of his high failure rate on a first year module as it proved that his teaching was academically rigourous … other explanations were offered by his colleagues (this was well before the days of student evaluation, NSS etc). In the spirit of this discussion, I did a Google Trends comparison of ‘university student retention’ against ’student dropout’ (I really do need to get out more …) and found that ‘dropout’ is mentioned a lot more and there was a peak of interest around 2004/05. Any clues here? Most mentions came from the USA and India: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=university%20student%20retention,student%20dropout<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftrends.google.com%2Ftrends%2Fexplore%3Fdate%3Dall%26q%3Duniversity+student+retention%2Cstudent+dropout&data=01%7C01%7Ced.foster%40NTU.AC.UK%7C5cbd223a3e1a4e68f04008d674866cb7%7C8acbc2c5c8ed42c78169ba438a0dbe2f%7C0&sdata=EfeuqIxDhMtKgj0mr4kopCtDKLWJ1vD80i316co1dc8%3D&reserved=0> Taking John’s point, we have the question of which agency ‘created’ and reinforces this terminology and how suits their purposes (was reminded of the debate around ‘climate change’ vs ‘global warming’). I think ‘retention’ very definitely puts the onus on universities. Any literature on who uses which term? Best wishes And Happy New Year Peter PS The May 2019 SEDA Conference in Belfast will feature a joint keynote with colleagues from ALDinHE - hope to see many of you there. https://www.seda.ac.uk/events/info/476<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seda.ac.uk%2Fevents%2Finfo%2F476&data=01%7C01%7Ced.foster%40NTU.AC.UK%7C5cbd223a3e1a4e68f04008d674866cb7%7C8acbc2c5c8ed42c78169ba438a0dbe2f%7C0&sdata=AYKl%2FMIelFkIabrBJJ8J2P6X4AIwdYRCFBUolPEgY3o%3D&reserved=0> On 7 Jan 2019, at 09:27, John Hilsdon <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Thanks Ed and all Fascinating discussion … how things are named yields insights into the underlying values and motives of those controlling the terminology … Remember the dreadful “attrition” … that always reminded me of the descriptions of trench warfare. Yorke uses the relatively positive word “persistence” …. at least agency there is located with the students … V best John From: learning development in higher education network <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>On Behalf Of Foster, Ed Sent: 07 January 2019 09:18 To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Student Retention Literature (definitely low priority an ignorable) Phrase of the day :) I think I’ve read it before. I think there’s a whole chapter on it in Upcraft and Gardner. I must find my copy to see what other horrors are there. So Student mortality Becomes Student drop out (man) Becomes Student retention It’s political correctness gone mad I tell you!!! Anyone want to start the ‘Freshman’ word trail? Ed Sent from my phone On 7 Jan 2019, at 00:23, Alistair McCulloch <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Hi all Happy New year from the Antipodes!! I know what you mean about the use of "(insert topic of your choice here) has become an increasingly important agenda recently" in papers/articles. I always like to see some references so I can be sure it really is ‘recent’. On the issue of the literature on the issue, the earliest I’ve come across is one from the US with an interesting take on the naming of the concept. We now use ‘student retention’. This piece uses the somewhat more brutal ‘student mortality’!! The full reference is McNeely, J. H. (1938). College Student Mortality, US Govt. Printing Office, Washington, DC. You can find a copy here:https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/61867/ttu_be0001_000741.pdf?sequence=1<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fttu-ir.tdl.org%2Fttu-ir%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F2346%2F61867%2Fttu_be0001_000741.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&data=01%7C01%7Ced.foster%40NTU.AC.UK%7C5cbd223a3e1a4e68f04008d674866cb7%7C8acbc2c5c8ed42c78169ba438a0dbe2f%7C0&sdata=bjAfz7GEbVYF3YqVSLOPrkaRgibNf2UdpAvrh85%2FvEk%3D&reserved=0> Cheers Alistair From: learning development in higher education network <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> On Behalf Of Foster, Ed Sent: Monday, 7 January 2019 9:08 AM To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Student Retention Literature (definitely low priority an ignorable) Hi Pauline I wouldn't dispute the current importance for a moment. The cost of failing in the UK in 1997 (If I remember correctly) was about £1,000 tuition fees & loan of up to £3,000-ish. It seems like a relatively carefree time to look back on (now I know I'm getting old) compared to now. In our first year survey, we ask a question about doubting (have you ever considered dropping out from your course?). We had the fewest doubters immediately prior to the introduction of the much higher fees. They could see the personal consequence of dropping out and then studying under the higher fee regime. The year of new fees doubting sky rocketed I do worry about UK student indebtedness, but I feel that for my entire time in HE, we've been discussing students as customers/ partners/ consumers and higher costs/ jeopardy don't help that at all. I think unfortunately we have to play with the hand that we've got. Ed ________________________________ From: Pauline Ridley <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Sent: 06 January 2019 22:25:26 To: Foster, Ed Cc: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Student Retention Literature (definitely low priority an ignorable) Hi Ed - I’ll leave others more qualified to respond re research literature but my immediate take on this is that student retention as an increasingly urgent agenda issue within HE has been driven by the policy/ funding landscape - and I wouldn’t necessarily expect there to be a direct correlation with research on the topic, when VCs and politicians are looking for quick fixes rather than a more nuanced understanding of the underlying issues? Best wishes Pauline ------------ Pauline Ridley Centre for Learning & Teaching, University of Brighton Please note I now work only one day a week so may not respond immediately. For general queries please contact the CLT office on 01273 643115<tel:01273%20643115> On 6 Jan 2019, at 22:12, Foster, Ed <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Dear all I'm working my way through a paper (woo) on improving student retention and I keep coming across phrases such as "student retention has become an increasingly important agenda recently". I'm having a slightly twitchy reaction to this (I think it's because I'm getting old) because it's just not true. So I reckon that the first significant studies into retention/ students success are: UK - Yorke et al & Ozga & Sukhnandan (1997) Undergraduate non-completion in higher education in England Australia - McInnis, C. and James, R., with McNaught, C. (1995) First year on Campus, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne/Australian Government Publishing Service.<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmelbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au%2F__data%2Fassets%2Fpdf_file%2F0011%2F1714682%2FFYE.pdf&data=01%7C01%7Ced.foster%40NTU.AC.UK%7C5cbd223a3e1a4e68f04008d674866cb7%7C8acbc2c5c8ed42c78169ba438a0dbe2f%7C0&sdata=qLJUBM1VoHW1n8V%2BFWS3zyY0wyHEjwNfdz4jn8gkkAA%3D&reserved=0> USA - Tinto (1975) (although I think most people have only read the 1993 book (miaow)) I've blogged<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flivinglearninganalytics.blog%2F2019%2F01%2F06%2Fstudent-retention-research-a-history-lesson%2F&data=01%7C01%7Ced.foster%40NTU.AC.UK%7C5cbd223a3e1a4e68f04008d674866cb7%7C8acbc2c5c8ed42c78169ba438a0dbe2f%7C0&sdata=Z4lc%2FlhrSqtMQSVGkXVliCyrhBLVJWHXR2AL5%2FU6r64%3D&reserved=0> it, but am I miles out? Are there really important antecedents that I'm missing? And * Anyone from a country not mentioned got thoughts on early work in your own national context? * Any thoughts on significant studies/ reports/ edited books (published in 2010 or otherwise)? Best wishes and happy new year Ed DISCLAIMER: This email is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain private and confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, please take no action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. In this case, please reply to this email to highlight the error. Opinions and information in this email that do not relate to the official business of Nottingham Trent University shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by the University. Nottingham Trent University has taken steps to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus-free, but we do advise that the recipient should check that the email and its attachments are actually virus free. 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