Retaining students is a key priority for all UCA course teams. But retention is a complex topic, and there are a great many factors that influence a student’s decision to leave a course.
So what can you do? Well, the articles below explore different aspects of retention and provide practical suggestions that can help. UCA has undertaken research into the challenges that many of our students face, particularly in their first year of study, and below you will find reports by Lynda Fitzwater, Katie Allder and Dr. Mary-Lou Barratt that contextualise retention across the university.
- effective induction to help students connect: this article presents an ‘induction checklist’ for course teams to support students in their first weeks of study
_ - tutoring and retention: key points from the UCA research into induction tutoring and its potential to support retention – listen to the podcast
_ - undergraduate retention – the first year experience at UCA: Dr. Mary-Lou Barratt’s report into the challenges facing students during their first year
_ - retention strategies that work: a summary of the extensive research undertaken by the Higher Education Academy into retention in the sector
_ - online strategies to support retention: suggestions for using online tools such as blogs, Padlet and regular announcements to keep students engaged
