Attrition of first-year university students remains a global problem, and this is also of great concern in South African higher education. In an effort to address this challenge, many higher education institutions offer peer mentoring programmes to assist first-year students with their adjustment to university life, in order to improve their…

In summer 2013, Manhattan College introduced an online summer "bridge to calculus" course for incoming first-year students in science, engineering, and mathematics education who marginally did not receive a calculus recommendation based on a mathematics placement test. In this paper, we describe the development of the bridge course and…

The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to examine if there is a significant difference in mean moral judgment levels of first year undergraduate students after participating in a character development program at a non-traditional program in a university in the southwestern United States. This study included new non-traditional…

Many universities have implemented initiatives designed to address first year retention and persistence. Various prevention and support programs, including summer bridge programs, TRIO and Student Support Services, have been funded for the primary purpose of improving the outcomes of underserved populations. Although these initiatives and programs…

The University of Pretoria (UP) began offering formal academic student support in 2011 when the first faculty student advisor (FSA) was appointed. Although many more FSAs were subsequently appointed, assistance to all the students in need of support remained insufficient. However, financial assistance through the collaboration grant received from…

Participation in study abroad has tripled in the last two decades, with over 332,000 U.S. undergraduate students studying overseas for academic credit in the 2016/2017 school year (Institute of International Education, 2018). Programs aimed at freshman students are a popular new trend in education abroad. As freshman program offerings increase, so…

In this study, we present a case study involving two self-service dashboards providing feedback on learning and study skills and on academic achievement. These dashboards were offered to first-year university students in several study programmes in Flanders, Belgium. Data for this study were collected using usage tracking (N = 2875) and a survey…

Attract, Inspire, Mentor and Support Students (AIMS[superscript 2]), a grant-funded program from the U.S. Department of Education for the HSI-STEM and Articulation Programs, focuses on improving outcomes for Hispanic and low-income students in STEM. Using a quasi-experimental design (QED) approach, this study examined outcomes between students who…

This study examined whether a correlation was present between demographic variables and academic success at a two-year institution in Alabama. Developmental status, gender, and race were compared with pass/fail status in the first college-level math class and graduation status. Results indicated that the developmental math classes were effective…

Our study used a case-control matching design to assess the influence of a voluntary tutoring program in improving first-year students' Grade Point Averages (GPA). To evaluate program effectiveness, we applied case-control matching to obtain 215 pairs of students with or without participation in tutoring, but matched on high school GPA and…

Based on four studies that meet WWC group design standards, "first year experience courses" were found to have potentially positive effects on credit accumulation, degree attainment (college), and general academic achievement (college) for freshman college students. "First year experience courses", often referred to as college…

Central Piedmont Community College is exploring ways to help at-risk students achieve academic success by utilizing an early-alert system called Success Through Academic Reporting (STAR). All First-Time, Full-time Degree-seeking students (FFD) receive an opportunity for follow-up services that support a centralized strategy, which has the…

At the beginning of the 2016 academic year 77,214 freshman students at 44 campuses began the fall semester participating in the Re-Imagining the First Year (RFY) initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). These 44 institutions have formed a learning community that reviews and shares evidence-based practices,…

The article describes the development of a disciplinary living/learning community in political science; the authors, two faculty members, started the community in the fall of 2012. The faculty leaders describe the various practices used to integrate political science courses in two subfields: American politics and international politics. In…

The Personal Librarian for Aboriginal Students (PLAS) program at the University of Alberta (UofA) is a creative outgrowth of the growing Personal Librarian programs in academic libraries, in which a student is partnered with an individual librarian for the academic year. In the case of the UofA's PLAS program, first-year undergraduate students who…