Identifying attrition risk based on the first year experience

Using data collected from a recent national survey of Australian first-year students, this paper defines and validates four scales - belonging, feeling supported, intellectual engagement and workload stress - to measure the student experience of university. These scales provide insights into the uni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education research and development 2018-02, Vol.37 (2), p.328-342
Main Authors: Naylor, Ryan, Baik, Chi, Arkoudis, Sophia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
At Risk Students
attrition
College Freshmen
Construct Validity
first year experience
First year students
Foreign Countries
Group experience
High risk students
Higher education
National Surveys
Online Surveys
Rating scales
retention
Risk Assessment
Robustness (Statistics)
Scores
Self Disclosure (Individuals)
Stress variables
Student Attrition
Student engagement
Student Experience
Test Reliability
Test Validity
University students
Withdrawal (Education)
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Summary:Using data collected from a recent national survey of Australian first-year students, this paper defines and validates four scales - belonging, feeling supported, intellectual engagement and workload stress - to measure the student experience of university. These scales provide insights into the university experience for both groups and individual students, to assist institutions in supporting and managing successful outcomes for their students. These data highlight the particular importance of a sense of belonging and mitigating workload stress to addressing attrition risk. Many traditional equity groups were found to only differ significantly from 'traditional' students on the stress scale. However, these groups potentially contain enormous individual variation, and even the average experiences of these groups reveal that complexity in the engagement, motivation and sense of belonging of students from equity backgrounds. Importantly, the scales presented in this paper can easily be used by practitioners, researchers and institutions to identify risk of attrition at an individual level based on attitudinal factors rather than background or behavioural factors. This may inform university strategy and practice to enhance the student experience and increase retention across the sector.
ISSN:0729-4360
1469-8366
DOI:10.1080/07294360.2017.1370438