Why am I here? Why should I stay? Becka Colley, University of Bradford

Becka is a Dean of students and was drawing on her research in the area of student retention.

There is as we all know a need to change our approaches with students and the drivers for this relate to our changing student profile which is now more diverse, with students developing more autonomy, there are more mature students with additional responsibilities, more local students who have established peer groups outside of their programme, they earn while they learn and there is a reduction in places.

In the UK at present only 1 in 12 (8%) students leave HE during their first year but between 1/3 and 2/5^ths think about leaving. Reasons for this doubt include academic issues, feelings of isolation and/or not fitting in and concerns about achieving future aspirations. Students leave because they are not engaged academically and socially. Reasons that students go to University include because they have nothing else to do, their parents or siblings told them to go, they don’t want to get a job and they want a degree but, not because they want to study the subject.

Becka then outlined Tinto’s (1993) Model about retention theory. http://etorpy.com/Tinto.htm

Becka has been doing a project with others called HERE and this can be found on the HEA website http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/what-works-student-retention/HERE_Project_What_Works_Final_Report  The findings from this project were that approximately 1/3 of first years have experienced doubts sufficiently strong to make them consider leaving. Those who have these doubts are more likely to leave, have a poorer experience, have more than one reason to leave and programme issues are often the reason. Four reasons to stay were given as friends, adapting to the course, personal commitment and future goals.

Key recommendations are:

• Identify and respond to students at risk
• Help students make the transition to being effective learners
• Improve communication and relationships with staff
• Help students make more informed decisions about choosing the right course in the first place
• Improve social integration
• Improve the sense of belonging
• Foster motivation and help students understand how the programme can help achieve future goals
• Encourage students active engagement with the curriculum
• Ensure that there is good communication about accessing student support

This was a really interesting and engaging session with some great ideas on how we can help students.