Student retention and success

We are currently involved in a number of programmes and activities designed to support institutions in enhancing student retention and success.

Funding

From 2009-10 we have introduced a new targeted allocation to support teaching enhancement and student success. This allocation brings together funding previously associated with the allocation for improving retention and the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund.

We have allocated £269 million directly to institutions for teaching enhancement and student success in 2009-10 (HEFCE 2009/08).

Further information on how we fund teaching enhancement and student success.

National audit office report

In July 2007 the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report into student retention.

This confirmed the strong performance of universities and colleges in retaining their students, at a time when higher education (HE) has grown. But it also found that the sector carries out little evaluation of the impact and transferability of this practice, despite the wide range of advice on good practice in this area.

The report also highlighted wide variation in the numbers of students continuing beyond their first year of study. We have committed to intensify our work in this area, agreeing specific plans for improvement over time with those institutions whose retention rates are significantly below the benchmark.

In response to the NAO report we and the NAO ran three events in early 2008 for around 250 delegates to explore ways of improving institutional retention practice.

Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

We have also invested £314 million in 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs), a number of which focus on student retention.

The University of Wolverhampton, for example, has a CETL focused on tracking student attendance and performance. This enables the university to identify those students who are at risk of dropping out and to take steps to support them.

Other measures

Performance indicators, and benchmarks for the retention of part-time students
We have been working with the sector to develop these following the 2007 review of performance indicators by the Performance Indicators Steering Group.
Projected and actual completion rates
Now that longer term series data are available, we are using them to verify that the projections of expected completion rates are sufficiently close to the actual completion rates achieved by institutions.
Review of policy on disabled students
We are working with our national partners to investigate the apparent differences between higher education institutions in the proportions of students who receive Disabled Students' Allowance and establish whether this means that some eligible students may be missing out on their entitlement.
A 'Student retention and success' mailing list
Action on Access created this list, which provides a forum for those working or interested in the area of student retention in HE to exchange views and share good practice.

Student retention grants programme

Following the NAO report, we and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation have made available a total of £1 million from 2008 to 2011 to support projects that identify, evaluate and disseminate institutional analysis and good practice relating to student retention.

The primary purpose of the programme is to analyse and share good practice about the most effective strategies to ensure high continuation and completion rates within HE. Seven universities were selected and have been awarded grants to run projects. Many of these are working in partnership with other institutions. In total, 21 institutions are directly involved in the grants programme.

The seven lead institutions are:

Northumbria University
Aston University
University of Reading
Nottingham Trent University
University of Sunderland
University of Leicester
Anglia Ruskin University

A team from the Higher Education Academy and Action on Access has been appointed to support the grants programme and help to ensure effective co-ordination across the funded HE partners and maximum impact across the HE sector.

More about the programme and the individual projects

Sector impact assessment of the programme

In developing the student retention grants programme, we have assessed its impact on the HE sector in terms of regulatory burden, equality and diversity, and sustainable development.

Sector impact assessment of 'What works? Student retention and success'

[ Download Sector impact assessment of the programme as Adobe PDF 167K | Download Sector impact assessment of the programme as MS Word 83K ]

Further information

For further information regarding student retention and success please contact Siân Griffiths , 0117 9317153, s.griffiths@hefce.ac.uk.

Last updated 30 January 2012