Keynote prepared for SEDA Spring Conference, May 2012, Chester, UK.

1. Why Am I Here? Why Should I Stay?
Becka Colley
Dean of Students, University of Bradford
National Teaching Fellow

2. Content
• Understanding student doubters
• Building communities and encouraging
belonging
• Taking responsibility and making change
happen

3. Stating The Obvious But…
• Higher Education is changing… (has
changed)
“The university system is in need of
„radical change‟ to provide a better deal
for taxpayers and students” (Willetts, 10 June 2010)
• How has the sector responded?
• What have you done differently?

4. Drivers for Change
• Diversity of entry routes
• Issues of dealing with developing autonomy
• Older – with additional responsibilities/issues?
• More local, many with existing established
peer groups
• Earning whilst learning
• Disengaged learners seeking qualification
whilst unsure what University life is about
• Reduction in places: increased competition

5. • In the UK, only 1 in 12 (8%) of students
leave HE during their first year.
• Between 1/3 to 2/5 *think* about leaving.

6. Reasons for Doubting?
• Academic issues.
• Feelings of isolation and/or not fitting in.
• Concern about achieving future
aspirations.

7. Why Do Students Leave University?
• Because they are not engaged
• Not engaged academically
– “I am not clever enough”
– “The course is not what I thought it would be”
• Not engaged socially
– “I feel lonely”
– “I am homesick”
– “The other students are not friendly”

8. Why Are You Here?
• Because “I have nothing else to do”
• Because “my parents/siblings told me to
come”
• Because “I don‟t want to get a job”
• Because “I want to study the subject”
• What impact will this have on
engagement? How do we support a
different learning experience?

9. Teaching, learning
support, facilities
Academic
Goal Integration
Prior
qualifications Commitment
Institutional
Commitment
Individual
attributes
Dropout
decisions
Family
attributes, e.g.
parental
education
Debt, Social
counselling, Integration
medical,
personal,
family
Tinto’s (1993) model
events.

10. The HERE Project
• Explored two themes associated with
retention:
I. Impact of doubting on students’ decisions to
persist
II. Impact of individual programme teams on
retention

11. Key Findings
• Approx 1/3 of first years • Programme issues are
Key Findings
have experienced doubts primary reason for
sufficiently strong to make doubting.
them consider leaving. • 4 main reasons to stay:
• Doubters are more likely friends; adapting to
to leave than non- course; personal
doubters. commitment; future goals.
• Doubters reported a • Strongest doubts from
poorer quality experience students with least
than non-doubters. positive experiences.
• Usually more than one • Some student groups
reason for doubting. more likely to doubt than
others.

12. Key recommendations
1. Identify and respond to 5. Improve social integration.
students at risk. 6. Improve a sense of belonging.
2. Help students to make 7. Foster motivation and help
the transition to being students understand how the
effective learners at programme can help achieve
university their future goals.
3. Improve the 8. Encourage students’ active
communication and engagement with the
relationships with staff. curriculum.
4. Help students make 9. Ensure that there is good
more informed decisions communication about and
about choosing the right access to additional student
course in the first place. support.

13. Student Engagement to Improve
Student Retention and Success
Thomas, L (2011)

14. Institutional Reflective Checklist
To what extent:
• Does the institution actively nurture a culture of belonging?
• Do staff feel responsible for student belonging, retention and
success?
• Are high quality student centered learningh and teaching seen
as integral?
• Does the institution develop the capacity of its students?
• Does institutional data and monitoring support student
belonging?
• Do all students feel like they belong and are supported?

15. • How can educational development support
change?

16. • How can we make things different?
• How can we ensure the reflective checklist
is implemented?
• How do we make staff care about the
student experience?

17. Academic System
Curricula
Curriculum Assessment Academic
design and
delivery and feedback development
contents
Example interventions
Extended Problem Formative
Personal
and Peer /enquiry feed-
tutors/
integrated learning based forward/
advisers
induction learning feedback

18. Social System
Social
Co-curricula Travel and Social
spaces and
activities accommodation networking
facilities
Example interventions
Accredited/inte Pre-arrival Extended
Learning
grated & transition opening
communities
volunteering forums hours

19. Professional Service
System
Learning and Progression
Pre-entry Pastoral
Teaching (library,
(admissions, outr (counselling, fina (Careers, alumni
academic skills,
each, marketing) nce help, SU) support)
disability service
Example interventions
Early and
Peer Student
extended Exit support
mentoring helpdesk
induction

20. Organisational System
Corporate Leadership, wh Inclusive & Co-ordinated,
mission, vision ole staff aligned evidence
& strategic responsibility, policies & informed
objectives CPD procedures strategy
Example interventions
Inclusive & Staff Managing
Triangulated data
accountable recruitment, reward student
use at programme
validation and recognition engagement
level
processes policies opportunities

21. Building Communities
• Belonging is crucial
• Staff and students
• Do you feel you belong to the university
community? How? Why? Evidence it!
• How do you create and maintain a
community?

22. Why Have I Stayed?

23. Issues of Belonging
Why do they leave? Why do they stay?
• Lack of social life and • My fellow students have
community activity and helped me a lot. They
involvement have been very
• I have no social life here supportive and are
• Very limited activities to always helpful.
simply relax and • Support of class mates
socialize. • The people on my course
(also financial, pressure and in my group have
of work, course related helped me throughout the
issues) course of the year
• The support of other
students

24. Ten Ways to Change Undergraduate Education
1. Make Research-Based Learning the Standard
2. Construct an Inquiry-Based Freshman Year
3. Build on the Freshman Foundation
4. Remove Barriers to Interdisciplinary Education
5. Link Communication Skills and Course Work
6. Use Information Technology Creatively
7. Culminate with a Capstone Experience
8. Educate Graduate Students as Apprentice Teachers
9. Change Faculty Reward Systems The Boyer Commission on
Educating Undergraduates
10. Cultivate a Sense of Community in the Research University: REINVENTING
UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
Boyer, 1999

25. Possible examples
• Group sessions
• Interactive activities
• Online and face2face support
• Personal tutor groups
• Links with other
modules/courses/Schools/Colleges
• Links outside the curriculum e.g. Student
Union
• Curriculum based induction

26. Students Don’t Need No Induction
• We should abolish freshers
activities/programmes as they don’t work.
– Information overload
– Difficult to make friends
– Too much alcohol
– No integration for different types of students
• Focus more on curriculum based
integration within academic programme

27. Individual level: What Can We Do?
• Identify student expectations of University
• Make explicit institutional requirements
• Demystify the complex, codified structures
• Provide holistic induction experience
• Supportive assessment process
– Provide early formative assessment
– Engage with curriculum to inspire learners
• Define curriculum engagement
• Academic and Social integration

28. Intervention level: Core principles
Proactive
Inclusive
Collaborative
Intervention Flexible
Integrated level
Transparent
Timely
Ongoing

29. Any Questions?!

30. <Thank you!/>

31. And if all else fails……
Eat cake ;-)