At many institutions of higher education, first-year seminars are meant to help students transition to college life and to provide them with resources and skills to develop socially and academically, supporting persistence (Jamelske, 2009; Janz, 2004). Since their inception, researchers have evaluated the effectiveness of these seminars and their…

Scholarship on first-year seminar (FYS) courses is rapidly growing and diversifying. However, the available knowledge, for the most part, remains fragmented and limited to only one institutional setting, seminar type, or student group. Accordingly, this meta-synthesis was designed to examine 2 decades of research on FYS courses to determine the…

Future engineering professionals have to deal with increasing complexity and uncertainty, as global challenges, such as climate change, globalisation and digitalisation, require creative, innovative solutions and interdisciplinary perspectives. Accordingly, engineering graduates have to be prepared to deal with those kinds of problems at different…

This review of research discusses how applications of multicontext theory can help foster a sense of belonging for students in higher education, resulting in stronger persistence. Multicontext theory may offer an approach to designing learning experiences and environments that take into account varied ways of thinking and knowing, are relevant…

Given the theorized importance of college belonging for academic success, we conducted a scoping review of studies examining relationships between sense of belonging and academic achievement and persistence for postsecondary students. In our scoping review, we included 69 reports (78 unique samples) published between 2003 and 2023. We observed an…

This review of the literature aims to synthesise and analyse previous studies to provide important information on factors that affect academic staff retention and staff satisfaction in higher education institutions (HEI). The review included 21 studies published between 2014 and 2024, conducted in 13 different countries. Thematic analysis of the…

This research is a narrative critical literature review of the use of the PsyCap (psychological capital) model to study online university students' learning experiences in order to understand their persistence. PsyCap (Hope, Efficacy, Resilience and Optimism, abbreviated as HERO) has been proven an effective model of understanding the intrinsic…

The purpose of this study is to examine research on school dropout in open and distance education in the Web of Science (WoS) database using bibliometric analysis and to reveal trends in this area. In line with this goal, a total of 1,615 studies published between 1980 and 2022 were identified in the Web of Science (WoS) indexes. Descriptive and…

The integration of peer mentoring into academic programmes as a mechanism for supporting new students has received considerable attention in higher education worldwide, especially in developed countries. Despite a growing body of research on peer mentoring in higher education, an extensive review of the benefits of this approach is needed to…

Higher education administrators, faculty, and staff across diverse institutional contexts grapple with college students' persisting and increasing mental health concerns. Further, recent research has discussed mental health challenges Black collegians encounter, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health issues among Black college…

I conducted a narrative literature review on first-year seminars to provide practitioners and researchers with a current, comprehensive review of the research investigating the effectiveness of this widely used, high-impact practice so that they could use this information to improve the course at their institution. I searched for peer-reviewed…

Addressing non-medical factors that adversely impact mental health, wellness, and academic persistence is important to increasing access to college for vulnerable college students. This systematic review synthesized 63 articles on interventions to address college student SDOMH challenges. Researchers found that SDOMH themes were addressed in…

Microaggression experienced by LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and having other sexual orientations and gender identities) persons have been exhaustively studied over the last decade. However, there is a dearth of psychological research examining the prevalence, forms, and consequences of LGBTQ…

This article brings together a number of key issues that emerge in research around the problem of teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools. It offers a broad overview of the hard-to-staff schooling sector as discussed in recent academic literature and provides a context-specific overview of the literature around workforce shortages in…

The study systematically assesses the determinants impacting Ph.D. success, amalgamating insights from 38 meticulously curated studies. Through the integration of PRISMA, TCCM, and an 8-step process, it delineates crucial findings and factors influencing successful Ph.D. completion. The PRISMA diagram intricately outlines the data retrieval…