Education has been described as a 'bridging right' that empowers persons with disabilities to justifiably lay claim to other rights, such as the right to work, the right to participate in politics, etc. While much research has reported on the challenges encountered by persons with disabilities in higher education, very little is known about the…

This article analyses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' social and academic integration, based on Tinto's integration theory. A total of 640 university students in Austria completed an online survey pertaining to academic and social integration during the home-learning period. Results indicate that social integration and…

Student support practitioners, who provide personal counseling and academic advising to non-traditional students, play a key role in widening participation efforts, but their perspectives are rarely researched. To address this gap, this study draws on the practice perspective on knowledge and learning, and explores the practice-based knowledge…

This study examines the impact of an Australian enabling program, underpinned by critical pedagogy, on students' academic and professional success. Qualitative focus group data were collected from individuals who had completed an enabling program at a regional Australian university and progressed to undergraduate study. Quantitative data comparing…

Universities are now compelled to attend to metrics that (re)shape our conceptualisation of the student experience. New technologies such as learning analytics (LA) promise the ability to target personalised support to profiled 'at risk' students through mapping large-scale historic student engagement data such as attendance, library use, and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on all facets of international education. Not only has it highlighted the inadequacy of existing care arrangements but it has also created new care needs. There is increased recognition among policy makers and education providers that they need to understand and support the wellbeing of international…

Cohesive integration practices within 'one-stop' student support services are critical for student success, however empirical studies in this area are limited in number and scope. This case study addresses this gap by exploring the lived experience of staff and managers who support students at a regional Australian university's integrated student…

The health, wellbeing and employability of university students are key considerations within higher education. In response, interest in student resilience is on the rise. Reviews of contemporary resilience literature highlight both conceptual and methodological weaknesses, issues which hamper attempts to design effective resilience interventions.…

Student retention remains an ongoing concern for higher education institutions worldwide. In the present study, we examine the predictive utility of identity styles, professional identity and academic commitment to academic achievement. We asked 120 second-year students in the profession of engineering in an augmented degree programme to complete…

Conventional wisdom encourages educators to cultivate student success by creating expectations among students, with the intention of boosting motivation and empowerment. If students feel that their learning is in their hands, they are more likely to fulfil the learning outcomes. But this paper argues that vulnerable or sensitive students are…

University campuses are increasingly diverse, reflecting substantial growth in student enrolments, but this has not translated to equitable outcomes for all students. While much attention has been focused on student retention and success, particularly for those from non-traditional backgrounds, dominant theoretical models rest on a limited notion…

This research evaluated the impact on students' academic achievements of a pre-college outreach programme implemented by a Chilean higher education institution. This programme benefits students in their last year of secondary education so they can better adapt to post-secondary education. Specifically, we assessed whether freshmen enrolled in 2017…

University educators have observed the concurrent problems of student attrition, higher than normal or desired failure rates and students struggling to complete assessable and non-assessable work, for instance, set readings. Recent public commentary has pointed to the widening participation agenda with its lowering of university entrance scores…

Studies of student re-enrolment patterns in higher education constitute, along with traditional studies of persistence and dropout, a key element for improving the quality of higher education institutions. However, these studies tend to be limited as they are centred on a single institution, due to the lack of national-scale data sets for…

The idea and implementation of learning communities are gaining favour in higher education institutions. In particular, there are a number of successful examples to emerge of the application of the Community of Practice (CoP) framework proposed by Wenger [(1998). "Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity." Cambridge, MA:…