Looking at Retention
‘From Both Sides Now’
working with students AND
faculty to address student
retention
Diane Nutt
University of Teesside
• Combines teaching, research and enterprise
• 22,000+ students
• Commitment to widening participation
– so majority of students ‘non-traditional’
(mature, part-time, first generation, low-participation
neighbourhoods, disabled, from ethnic minority)
• NE England – ex industrial region
• Largely regional intake
– ‘Commuter students’?
• Wide range of programmes/courses
– many practice orientated
Background and rationale
• Previous success with specific groups
• Previous success with institutional change.
Doing good work,
BUT
how to move on to the next step??
Combining local and central strategies
Overview of what we do:
Combination of
• central support for
staff/faculty
• and local support for
students
Central Unit
for faculty development, and for curriculum and cultural change
• Providing:
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coherent strategy and framework,
a resource base,
Consultancy,
and research support,
strategic guidance for managers and planners.
• Examples:
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staff induction,
workshops with inexperienced staff,
ongoing staff development both central and faculty based,
working with programme/course teams,
providing resource material on how to design support strategies
into the curriculum,
– Providing and supporting a University retention action plan.
Local Student Support
• To provide a ‘bridge to help’ for
students, and to work with faculty on
a day to day basis:
– Retention Support Officers, one per
school/faculty ~ Primary focus is the
student
• Examples:
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drop-in-help desk,
School/Faculty based online support site,
supportive attendance monitoring,
peer mentoring
focus groups with students
‘Joined Up Thinking’
NOT a one off strategy, but rather joined up
thinking
combining on the spot add on support with curriculum
development and institutional change
Adaptable, flexible, suited to context
Evaluation/Assessment of
effectiveness
• Improved retention figures, year on
year
Withdrawal rates: 21% - 18.5% - 15.5%
• Positive feedback from evaluations
with staff and students
• National and government audits
positively evaluate both strategy and
practice
• New approaches from staff and
students
Feedback
On local activities:
From students
‘it was good to have a friendly face to talk to who could initiate
contact with a member of staff’
‘It was really good to talk to someone who I felt I could ask
anything’
From staff
‘I’d like to say that having you as a RSO has really begun to
make a difference to the programme in terms of attendance’
‘The role of Retention Support Officer as been very important in
the School of Science and Technology, enabling us to
provide more effective support for students. In particular this
role helped academic staff identify a group of students who
were having difficulties with a particular area of their course,
and the academic staff, the RSO and a small number of peer
mentors provided extra support sessions for these students
which enabled them to overcome these problems’.
‘I worked with the Head of the Retention Team to support one of the
programme teams in my School who had identified a retention
problem. Diane’s knowledge of a wide range of strategies provided
real solutions for this team, which they had been unable to identify
without her help. I saw the light go on for them. They decided to
implement some of her suggestions and this is already impacting
positively on the next cohort of students, who have fed back
positively on their experience. Retention on this programme is also
improving’ (RSO)
“Your support across the School has been invaluable and your evidence
based knowledge and unwavering enthusiasm in the workshops you
have done with staff has been instrumental in ensuring that a range
of models have been developed and embedded with subsequent
impact on thousands of students. Thanks again and we look forward
to your continued support and expertise in relation to this and all our
other retention activities. Our success in these areas is a result of the
collaboration and support that we receive” (Assistant Dean)
‘Initiatives pioneered at Teesside are
challenging the concept that a high
intake of students from disadvantaged
areas inevitably leads to high drop-out
rates’
HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council
Executive) Council Briefing Issue 66,
October 2006
Any Questions
Thankyou
Diane
Dr. Diane Nutt
Head of the Student Retention Team
[email protected]