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Student Retention Resources for staff

The Retention Project

The goal of the Retention Project is to facilitate activities which will assist in retaining students at the University. A key task is the development of the University's Retention Plan.

In support of this are a range of activities and services - including this site containing resources directed at staff. Users of this site will find certain sections are in the process of development. Suggestions for improvements and additions are welcome.

Student retention is a key issue for Curtin University for a number of reasons.

1. Funding issues: High attrition rates have financial implications:
   • recruitment costs are partially wasted
   • there is a loss of future fee and other income
   • there may be effects on our sources of funding
2. Courses and positions can be jeopardised:
   • Where attrition rates remain high for extended periods, questions can be raised about viability
3. Reputation:
   • Students who have a good experience at the University are a positive influence on our reputation
   • students who leave without completing their course may not have such good stories to tell
4. Duty of Care and ethical considerations:
   • Offering a place indicates a belief that the student has the potential to succeed.
   • Some students (especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds) will need additional resources to succeed.
   • Any student can become an "at-risk" student at any time for reasons beyond their control.

Staff Forum - A Fork in the Road: Intervening with students placed on Conditional Status

Thursday 27 September 2007
10 am – noon
A summary of the discussion and recommendations

The discussion showed there is some variation in the way schools deal with students on Conditional status. Models include:

• Little intervention in some schools besides the formal notification of the academic status
• Some areas mail letters (i.e. not OCC) outlining the conditions attached to further enrolment
• Individual interviews with all students to discuss progress
• Attempts to follow up with the students during semester
• Requirement for students to submit a report to the Head of School on what they did to address their status

Some commonly observed difficulties include:

• An observation that many students are not aware of the significance of their academic status. It was thought that perhaps there is little proactive education about student status – students do not really learn about it until their first set of results, and even then the matter may be relatively easily ignored
• Many students do not access OASIS very frequently, and may not even know their status
• Some do not appear very motivated to do any thing about it
• Staff (especially those new to course coordinating roles) many not be fully conversant with the meaning of academic status
• There was some confusion amongst staff over whether it is even possible to get a list of those students in their course who are on Conditional status. If it is possible, it is not widely known how to do it.

Three fundamental problems were identified, with some suggested solutions:

One: How to communicate effectively to students the meaning of Conditional status

• A brief PowerPoint presentation on the key points of student status could be made available to all staff and delivered in class – potentially at several key times. Delivery could occur early in the semester and in the weeks prior to the end of semester. The same information could also exist on line for students in distance education mode. There may also be benefit in having a pamphlet format and/or posters.
• Is it possible to prevent a student on Conditional status accessing his/her results on line unless they first read and acknowledge an information page on the meaning of the status?
• Is it possible to prevent a student on Conditional status enrolling on line? i.e. the student would be required to have personal contact with someone in the school

Two: Getting students to take action to return to Good Standing

• Ideally, all students on Conditional status should have an interview with their course controller to discuss their academic progress.
• The current CBS model could be modified an extended to other areas. It was suggested that perhaps it would useful to require students to submit a “Return to Good Standing Plan” modelled on the CBS document to their Head of school or concourse controller by week 4 or 5 of the semester. There was a strong view that any such plan template should be kept as simple as possible. There may also be some benefit in seeking the student to submit an end of semester report on how the plan was implemented.
  

Three: Enabling staff to deal with the issue

• It would be helpful if staff were easily able to identify the students in their course who are on Conditional status and flag them for follow up during the semester. This would also help flag those students who had re-enrolled before their academic status was determined.
• It may help to have an easily accessible resource about status on line for staff – it was thought perhaps the information on the Counselling service site might be a useful beginning point, but that the resource should not be located on the Counselling service web site
• The staff resource could contain a checklist of things they should be discussing with students during an interview. This would help develop consistency between departments/schools/faculties as to how these students are dealt with and monitored during this time.
  

Strategies to intervene with students on Conditional status are under active consideration as a key part of the draft Retention Plan.