Student Retention Conference - workshop report

Student Retention concerns the serious problem of students who have been judged to have the potential to benefit from higher education and have been preparing for and anticipating the challenges of university but, often within a few weeks, are disillusioned and drop out. This conference arose out of ongoing concerns on this issue within the University of Ulster. However, it was aimed at a wider audience, with over a third of the large attendance coming from other Higher and Further Education institutions. An important component within the conference was the university’s FDTL4 STAR project on “Student Transition and Retention” but with six guest speakers and four parallel workshops we gained many insights into the causes of students leaving early and strategies for retaining them. While poor retention rates may be a single issue, it was clear that its causes are multi-faceted, with no single panacea for addressing the issue.