Conducted small group discussions with college students to identify what helped or hindered achievement of learning outcomes. Identified four student factors (self management, motivation and needs, understanding, and support), which operate within a context (course organization, resources, and facilities; assessment; and learning activities and…

Builds on the assumption that colleges and universities are organizations and subsequently that the organizational perspective provides important insights for improving retention on campuses. A review of existing organizational studies of undergraduate persistence serves as the basis for ten empirically-based recommendations for practice that are…

Examines five shibboleths (common ideas) about the relationship between campus culture and student persistence. Describes a six-step approach for using the peer group and classroom as key elements in cultivating a success-oriented institutional culture. (Author/EV)

This article reviews literature on changing environment and culture of European universities. First it considers: the pressures of globalisation and knowledge society on universities, the implication of emerging European higher education area, the demands confronting universities, the permeation of the public sector by market ideology and the…

Prior to 1994, the presence of minority belief systems and values in education were largely ignored in South Africa. It could be expected that after ten years of democracy students' understanding of, for instance, the values of inclusivity and diversity in a multicultural society in general and tertiary education in particular should not be in…

The purpose of the study is to identify the effect of the research assessment exercise (RAE) on the balance between collegiality and managerialism in English universities. The article examines the institutional strategies for the 2001 RAE and its effect on organisational culture, identifying change in governance, management and leadership in…

This study describes an empirically derived framework for understanding issues and contexts in which difficult interpersonal events, grounded in identity differences, occur between and among college faculty and students. Interviews with 34 student affairs professionals on 11 college campuses generated 153 student stories of uncomfortable…

In this article, the author describes how institutions of higher education have changed over the course of 40 years, and notes some changes in higher education. In 1966 the total U.S. population was 196,560,338; this fall it hit 300 million. In about the same time, the number of colleges and universities rose from 2,329 to well over 4,000,…

The author describes an undergraduate course she taught on "Representations of Slavery." In particular, she explains how the course involved studying an historic site on her university's campus: the former slave plantation of leading antebellum racist John C. Calhoun. She also analyzes how her school represents the site on its Web pages. (Contains…

The Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) documents dimensions of quality in legal education and provides information about law student participation in effective educational activities that law schools and other organizations can use to improve student learning. This paper presents select findings from the 2007 survey administration,…

To provide access to and retain both students of color and low-income students, community colleges must change to create environments in which all students can succeed. Change strategies must focus on the core mission of the institution and rely on data regarding the experiences of students at the institution. When student data are used to inform…

In Spring 2007, the State Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges awarded the Transfer Leadership Center (TLC) study to investigate two-to-four year transfer practices and strategies. As part of the study's qualitative component, research teams from the Center for Student Success of the Research & Planning Group of the…

This study examined freshman college students' attitudes about date rape and how such attitudes changed over the course of their college experience. It is based on a subset of data from the 1990 annual national survey of freshmen and a follow-up study in 1994 collected by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey, namely 10,155…

This report points to recent social, economic, and technological changes in Canadian society that have produced significant challenges to higher education, and provides recommendations for improving the educational climate of higher education institutions and classrooms. It presents background information on positive learning environments and…

A survey of 37 college students with various disabilities was conducted to assess their perceptions of the accommodation process at a medium-sized midwestern university. Students were interviewed about particular accommodations requested and positive and negative aspects of the accommodation process. They also provided quantitative information on:…