The importance of student engagement is long recognised. Students who are more engaged will be more motivated and inclined to complete their studies. The aim of this study is to understand barriers to engagement for first-year computing students, a cohort that traditionally have high non-progression rates. A qualitative descriptive design was…

As the university student body becomes more diversified and students' lives less linear, student retention carries increased importance for universities, including the conversion of deferrers and the re-enrolment of leave-taking students. This paper is based on a broader research project which explored national patterns of deferral and leave of…

Vertical transfers, those who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution, often face multifaceted challenges and lower success rates upon arriving at the receiving 4-year institutions. This quantitative study focused on three forms of social capital related to post-transfer adjustment, retention, and success for vertical…

Understanding the drivers of student dropout from higher education has been a policy concern for several decades. However, the contributing role of certain factors--including student mental health--remains poorly understood. Furthermore, existing studies linking student mental health and university dropout are limited in both methodology and…

University and college leaders are tasked with enhancing student outcomes with fewer resources. Student retention is one such key outcome of interest for many policy makers as well as for university administrators. Over the years, administrators have turned to High Impact Practices (HIPs) such as Learning Communities (LCs) to aid in retention.…

A little less than half of the students of higher Ed institutions in the US graduate in four years, and only around 60% finish in six years. Retention rates are also less than ideal. Colleges have been experimenting with a variety of programs and policies to address this issue, especially less selective institutions whose rates are significantly…

Background: While researchers in graduate engineering education are beginning to study facets of student experiences as they relate to attrition and persistence, theoretical applications of thriving theory have not been applied to graduate education contexts. Literature addresses students who persist and those who depart, inherently making…

Self-efficacy has been linked to academic performance, motivation, and progression within engineering degree programs. Such associations are context specific, and an understanding of sources of self-efficacy is paramount to guiding policy and practice enhancements. We sought to understand the self-efficacy beliefs held by 1st year engineering…

College student retention theorists have suggested that improving students' financial literacy may improve student retention and completion rates. Before this important line of inquiry can be thoroughly examined, it is first important to understand if and how major state universities in the United States currently provide students with financial…

Data from a moderately-selective state university in the Midwest is used to cross-examine the most appropriate data analytical techniques for predicting versus explaining college student persistence decisions. The current research provides an overview of the relative benefits of models specializing in prediction versus explanation with particular…

While mindfulness intervention research is prevalent, it is limited in (1) relation to college students' grade point average (GPA) and retention and (2) minimum dosage recommended for the intervention. This repeated-measures quasi-experimental nonequivalent control groups study investigated differences in mindfulness, stress, flourishing, GPA, and…

It is potentially beneficial for all college students to have perspectives on identity and future connections to develop and maintain academic motivation. However, researchers have yet to examine probationary students' identity-based motivation (IBM) and perceived instrumentality (PI), and how those motivational constructs relate to their academic…

The academic dropout of higher education students represents one of the most significant challenges that university institutions have to face today. This research analysed the university academic trajectory of students who dropped out of university for good. The aim of this paper is to examine in depth the factors that influence the idea of the…

This study follows the experiences of adult learners one year after completing a transition program. Transition programs seek to prepare students to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. These programs typically offer remediation and academic skill building and help adult learners to navigate matriculation and financial aid processes.…

Massive Open Online Courses have become a frequent platform for learners to acquire knowledge. This study aims to explore multiple factors influencing learner retention in MOOCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, we collected quantitative and qualitative data from questionnaires and qualitative data from interviews and then analyzed…