Student Retention and Success in Higher Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Student Retention and Success in Higher Education

   • Liz Thomas, Sally Kift, Mahsood Shah

   Pages 1-16

3. Why Does Student Retention and Success Matter?

   • Sarah O’Shea

   Pages 17-40

4. Student Retention: The Need for Institutional Change

   • Liz Thomas

   Pages 41-61

5. Student Engagement: Key to Retaining Students

   • Nick Zepke

   Pages 63-87

6. Faculty Engagement with Learning Analytics: Advancing a Student Success Culture in Higher Education

   • Linda Shepard, George Rehrey, Dennis Groth

   Pages 89-107

7. Institutional Leadership Efforts Driving Student Retention and Success: A Case Study of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

   • Sadhana Manik, Labby Ramrathan

   Pages 109-131

8. Engaging Staff in Improving Retention and Success

   • Roisín Curran

   Pages 133-150

9. Listening for Retention: Enabling Student Success Through Partnering with the Student Voice

   • Luke Millard, Richard Evans

   Pages 151-166

10. Improving Student Engagement, Retention and Success in Online Learning

    • Cathy Stone

    Pages 167-189

11. Fostering Equitable Access to Employability Development Through an Institution-Wide, In-Curricular Strategy

    • Dawn Bennett

    Pages 191-215

12. Designing Assessment and Feedback to Improve Student Learning and Student Success

    • Indira N. Z. Day, Wilfried Admiraal, Nadira Saab

    Pages 217-249

13. Re-designing Curriculum to Enhance First-Year Student Success: A Case Study

    • Trish McCluskey, Gayani Samarawickrema, Andrew Smallridge, Naomi Dempsey

    Pages 251-270

14. The Role of Professional Integration in Higher Education IT Studies

    • Külli Kori, Margus Pedaste

    Pages 271-293

15. Retention and Success in the Midst of a Pandemic

    • Sally Kift, Liz Thomas, Mahsood Shah

    Pages 295-333

16. Back Matter

    Pages 335-351

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This book draws together international research to assess the quality of successful efforts to retain students. The editors and contributors unite diverse global research from countries who have led student retention and success projects at national, institutional, faculty or program level with positive outcomes. The book is underpinned by the philosophy that a more diverse student population requires higher education institutions to fundamentally change, in order to facilitate the success of all students. All of humanity, its economies and societies, are being pummelled by waves of pandemic-induced crises in tandem with globalisation and demographic shifts. Ultimately, this book acts as a clarion to higher education institutions to better support and retain their students, in order to create a more stable learning environment.

• Student retention
• Student experience in higher education
• Student voice in higher education
• International student retention
• Curriculum and student success
• Student engagement
• Student/teacher partnerships

“Going to university changes your life for the better, but dropping out worsens your future prospects more considerably than if you had never been at all.  So, we have a moral and social responsibility to help all students to thrive.  This strongly values and research-led book shows us why and how we can do this. It is essential reading for that reason.” –Helen E. Higson, Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Aston University, UK

“Exploring student success and retention through a cross-section of conceptualisations, definitions, models, approaches, institutions and countries, this book offers a deep and wide range of ideas for consideration. Through the lenses of data, evidence, scholarship, research and reflexivity, the reader is challenged to examine their own and broader assumptions about the complex and challenging areas of University student retention and success”.

–Marcia Devlin, Former Senior Vice-Presidentand Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor, Victoria University, Australia

“Drawing on research evidence and practical examples from Australia, South Africa, Europe and the US this book offers a valuable evidence-led and highly reflexive account of student success and student retention.  The book is rooted in the firm belief that institutional change is the key to improving student success, and it provides research informed practical guidance about how to achieve this.   The authors encourage us to think deeply and carefully about what we mean by the term student success.  This is essential reading for higher education leaders, policy makers, teaching staff, and researchers, as we work together to develop and implement approaches that support student diversity and success”.

–Susan Orr, Pro Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching, York St John University, UK

• Swinburne University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

  Mahsood Shah

• James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

  Sally Kift

• Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK

  Liz Thomas

Mahsood Shah is Professor and Dean of Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. In this role, he provides overall leadership and management of the campus.

Sally Kift is Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and elected President of the Australian Learning & Teaching Fellows. From 2012 to 2017, she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at James Cook University, Australia.

Liz Thomas is Professor of higher education at Edge Hill University, UK and has more than twenty years’ experience undertaking and managing research about widening participation, student engagement, belonging, retention and success, and institutional approaches to improving the student experience and outcomes.

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