Developing a Student Retention Plan

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Developing a Student Retention Plan

• Dr Jim Elliott
• START Manager
• (Student Transition and Retention Team)
• Curtin University of Technology

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Some important quotes

• Dont it always seem to go that you dont know
  what youve got till its gone? Joni Mitchell
• You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille-
  Kenny Rogers
• There must be 50 ways to leave your university
  - apologies to Paul Simon
• Im leavin on a jet plane John Denver

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Even more important quotes

• Where are those happy days, they seem so far
  away? Abba
• God help me, I was only 19 Redgum
• Turn on, tune in, drop out Timothy Leary

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Retention is important to the University

• Money money money Losing our students means
• recruitment costs are wasted PLUS
• a loss of future fee and other income
• Our jobs can be on the line
• recruit too few or lose too many students, and
  suddenly you dont need so many teachers and
  other staff

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Retention is important to the University

• Reputation students who leave without
  completing a degree may not have good stories to
  tell

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Retention is important to the University

• Duty of Care and ethical considerations
• Offering a place means we think the student has
  the potential to succeed.
• We should ensure the educational setting gives
  them the best chance.
• Some students (especially those from
  disadvantaged backgrounds) will need additional
  resources.
• Any student can become an at-risk student at
  any time for reasons beyond their control.

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What do the retention data mean?

• Retained by whom? There are different figures
  depending on whether the measure is
• retention by the whole university,
• the faculty, or
• the enrolling school within the faculty.

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What do the retention data mean?

• Retained over what time period?
• The traditional measure is the proportion of
  students enrolled in the subsequent calendar year
  (excluding those who have completed.)
• BUT - the date that the measure is taken will
  lead to a different figure. E.G. A measure in
  late January will yield different data than one
  taken immediately after the census date.
• The calendar year measure implies that the
  quickest possible progression through a degree is
  the most desirable. That may not be so for all
  students.

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What do the retention data mean?

• Retaining whom?
• There are different figures for
• commencing, continuing, domestic, international,
  male and female, part-time, full-time,
  mature-aged, school leaver, standard entry,
  non-standard entry, and so forth.

• Measures of some potential target groups are very
  hard to come by.
• If ATSI, Rural/isolated, students with
  disabilities do not self-identify, we have no
  information about them

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How much retention is good enough anyway?

• 100 retention is neither possible or desirable
• Nonetheless we believe that some of those who do
  not persist could have continued if only there
  had been a timely and appropriate intervention.
• But we have little idea what the target should be
• So we tend to set arbitrary targets.
• And then start thinking what a timely and
  appropriate intervention might be.

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We do know something about our retention rates

• We retain more International than Domestic
  students but it is not a huge difference.
• The highest attrition is in Humanities,
  Engineering and Science and the Centre for
  Aboriginal Studies (CAS) plus some specific
  courses elsewhere.
• The schools which show higher levels of attrition
  for International students do not necessarily
  coincide with areas of high attrition for
  domestic students.

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We do know something about our retention rates

• External students generally have higher attrition
  than Internal. The disparity is worst in
  Humanities and Curtin Business School.
• Gender Where there is a large disparity between
  male and female enrolments, the minority group
  appears at greater risk of attrition. Otherwise,
  there appear to be few obvious marked gender
  differences
• Age Older students are very clearly more at risk
  than younger students. This applies across all
  divisions, all campuses and nearly all courses.
  The higher level of risk of attrition for mature
  aged students is the clearest variable in the
  retention data.

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We do know something about our retention rates

• Commencing students versus continuing students
  There is significant attrition amongst students
  from 2nd year onwards retention is not simply a
  1st year issue.
• 1st year is still the biggest single source of
  loss.
• Entry via standard TER versus non standard TER
  Non standard TER students appear at greater risk
  of attrition. The biggest disparity between the
  two entry modes is in Engineering and Science and
  Humanities.

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We do know something about our retention rates

• Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Students
  admitted with significant RPL are often placed
  into the 2nd year of a course after completion of
  study elsewhere. The data indicate that there is
  little difference in retention rates between the
  two groups.
• However, strong anecdotal evidence seems to
  support an opposite conclusion.
• Rural versus metro The commonly held view that
  rural students may be at greater risk is not
  shown.
• ATSI students not enrolled in the CAS Attrition
  rates are higher than other students but are
  better than CAS students.

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What do these data suggest?

• There is no single retention issue, and therefore
  no single intervention that will fix things
• Student retention is a multi-variable interacting
  issue
• By having a big proportion of mature-aged
  students, Curtin has a larger number of at-risk
  students. Recruiting a different kind of student
  population is very unlikely to be an effective
  strategy. Retention interventions have to work
  with the student population that we actually
  have.
• We should consider
• Generalised interventions that benefit all
  students
• Targeted interventions aimed at specific
  populations
• Specific student retention initiatives at
  enrolling area level

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We need to get organised

• Addressing student retention should be tackled
  systemically
• The role of Student Retention Manager (now
  retitled START manager) was established in late
  2006 to oversee the development of a retention
  plan.

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Engaging key stakeholders in support of the
process

• Retention is an issue for the whole university
  community.
• Retention should not be seen to be a function of
  a specialist support area.
• To engage the wider university community, a
  Retention Plan Steering Committee was established

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Retention Plan Steering Committee

• Student Transition and Retention Team (START)
  Manager as chairperson
• University Support Services Director
• First Year Experience/Transition Coordinator
• Faculty Deans of Teaching and Learning
• Regional Campus representative
• Student Services Director
• International Office representative
• Pro-Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning
  representative
• Student Learning Support Centre representative
• The Student Guild President
• Guild Student Assist Department representative

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The tasks of the Steering Group

• Task One Overview Curtin Retention data in
  context of a wider theoretical understanding of
  student retention
• What characteristics are shown in the retention
  data?
• What do these data suggest for key target areas
  for retention planning?
• Task Two Review of the resources and programs
  that Curtin already has in place to address
  retention

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The tasks of the Steering Group

• Task Three Identification of critical gaps in
  retention resources and programs
• Task Four Development of a Draft Retention Plan
• Task Five Identification of key goals for
  implementation 2008-2010
• At the time of writing, the Steering Group is at
  Task Four in this process.

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Assessing existing retention strategies

• There are already many activities/programs that
  impact on retention
• These had never been formally assessed as a
  cohesive group. Some were not widely known at
  all within the University
• They were mapped against the variables in Tintos
  (1993) model
• See examples at http//retention.curtin.edu.au/goo
  dpractice/
• This process suggested the gaps that needed
  addressing

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Identifying potential new student retention
strategies

• A large number of potential strategies were
  listed by the Steering Group
• These were ranked on
• Potential Impact whether the proposed retention
  strategy would make a significant difference to
  retention. 
• Difficulty in Implementation the complexity of
  the strategy/intervention and the level of
  resourcing required.
• Urgency how soon the university should make a
  start on implementing the proposed retention
  strategy.

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The short listed strategies

• A group of highest ranked strategies have been
  assembled.
• They are publicised to staff at
  http//retention.curtin.edu.au/retentionplan/
• After wider staff and student input, these will
  be developed into a formal plan

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Meanwhile we have not been sitting on our hands

• 2007 gave us an opportunity to try out some
  retention strategies.
• Development of a New-to-Curtin web site This
  site is now functional at http//www.unilife.curti
  n.edu.au/newtocurtin/index.cfm. It carries
  information specifically relevant to new students
  in their transition to university.
• A Timed E-Newsletter to new students Eight
  Newsletters (hosted on the New-to-Curtin site)
  are delivered at various appropriate times during
  Semester.

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Trial retention strategies

• A Revised Orientation Program There was
  significant revision of what is delivered as a
  central program and what is delivered at
  enrolling school level.
• An Orientation and Transition Best Practice
  Checklist has been established for staff at
  http//retention.curtin.edu.au/programs/orientatio
  n.cfm

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Trial retention strategies

• Collaborative programs with specific schools
  Occupational Therapy, Multimedia Design, Social
  Work, Art, Education and Nursing Midwifery.
• The pilot programs include
• mentoring,
• regular email contact with new students,
• early alert and referral by staff of at-risk
  students,
• drop-ins by retention staff,
• contact with students on Conditional status,
• in-house workshops and forums.

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Trial retention strategies

• An on-line process for staff to refer at risk
  students to staff of the Retention Project The
  on-line referral form allows staff to refer
  students who appear to be struggling to staff in
  the Retention Project with the intention of
  connecting students to the appropriate source of
  help within the University.
• Further details are at http//retention.curtin.edu
  .au/programs/referral.cfm

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Trial retention strategies

• The Dont Drop Out, Drop In Campaign The
  slogan, web button (leading to a portal of all
  support services at http//unilife.curtin.edu.au/)
  and poster campaign was launched in week three
  of Semester One just before the census date.
• Aims to raise awareness of sources of help for
  students and staff

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Trial retention strategies

• Addressing the needs of students on Conditional
  status Students who are placed on Conditional
  status have already demonstrated a significant
  level of risk in their studies.
• An information resource for these students has
  been created at http//counselling.curtin.edu.au/c
  onditional.html.
• This has contributed to University-wide plans to
  introduce a new process in 2008 which will aim to
  require these students to submit a Returning to
  Good Standing action plan.

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Trial retention strategies

• Making contact with students who left the
  University in 2006 without completing a
  qualification A letter was sent all domestic
  students who did not re-enrol (other than those
  who were terminated) by letter in July. The
  letter offered contact and advice to facilitate
  re-entry to the University. In addition, this
  process requested students to complete an on-line
  survey giving their reasons for not re-enrolling.
  
• Unfortunately, this process got almost no
  response.
• We will try a different approach in 2008 to
  contact these former students.

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Trial retention strategies

• Creating a Retention Resource web site for staff
  a dedicated website which includes a function as
  an information portal has been created for staff
  at http//retention.curtin.edu.au/

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Performance Indicators

• How would we know if we are making any
  difference?
• The obvious candidate is to re-examine retention
  statistics
• Because the retention rate is a lagging statistic
  with all the weakness previously mentioned, we
  also need other measures

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Performance Indicators

• We can use measures from the various retention
  interventions
• Examples include
• Evaluation data from mentor programs (both from
  mentors and mentees)
• O Week evaluation data
• Usage rates of retention websites
• Data from support service areas contacts with new
  students and at-risk students.
• Evaluation data and participation rates in
  specific retention programs

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Its all very complicated!

• Dealing with a multi-variable issue with multiple
  interventions whilst aiming at a fuzzily-defined
  target aint so easy

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2008 Priorities

• Widen the mentor programs
• Consolidate the New-to-Curtin E Newsletter and
  related transition activities
• Focus on early identification and intervention
  with at-risk students