Influences on student withdrawal from further education: a case study

Will We Meet Again?: Examining the Reasons Why Students are Leaving First Year University Courses and Moving Towards an Approach to Stop Them

“…There are four studies in particular, conducted at tertiary institutions in the US, the UK and New Zealand, that look into gender as a factor contributing to the withdrawal of students. Research by Bonham and Luckie (1993), Scott (2005), Gabb and Cao (2006) and Bidgood, Saebi, and May (2006) shows that gender, although not such a prevailing factor, is still an important one when considering student attrition. Although initially gender 203 was viewed as a negative factor towards women's retention, the trend in tertiary education has now made it a factor mostly influencing men.…”

“…It is important to point out that mature age, however, is not a recognised category of disadvantage, even though the lives and responsibilities of these students are often more complex than those of their younger peers (Leder & Forgasz, 2004). Since 1993, many studies on student retention have identified that financial issues and concerns are a major influence on the retention of tertiary students (Bidgood, Saebi, & May, 2006;Blanchard & Mascetti, 2000;Bonham & Luckie, 1993;Bradburn, 2002;Elliott, 1997;Glogowska, Young, & Lockyer, 2007;Glossop, 2002;Hoyt, 1999;Johnston, 1997;Lee, 1996;Long et al, 2006;Scoggin & Styron, 2006;Wilcox, Winn, & Fyvie-Gauld, 2005;Yorke, 2000). These studies pointed out that financial issues are detrimental to students' progress at university and that the outcome of financial problems for students is often university withdrawal.…”

“…Several studies from the US and the UK have pointed out "university dissatisfaction" as a factor that led students to withdraw (Bidgood et al, 2006;Bradburn, 2002;Lee, 1996;Long et al, 2006;Yorke, 2000). Dissatisfaction with the university in question has recently become a serious issue for tertiary institutions.…”

“…16. Course or Programme unsuitability Several researchers (Bidgood et al, 2006;Elliott, 1997;Johnston, 1997;Wilcox et al, 2005;Yorke, 2001;N. Zepke, Leach, & Prebble, 2006) found that students believed that the course not "suiting" them led to their withdrawal.…”

Advancing Life Projects: South African Students Explain Why They Come to FET Colleges

“…Only a small body of international literatures exist that draws on students' perspectives. These include a literature on (1) pathways into, through, and out of VET (e.g., Hodkinson, 1997Hodkinson, , 1999Ball, Maguire and Macrae, 2000;Harris and Ramos, 2012); (2) students' perspectives on policy (e.g., Avis, Bathmaker and Parsons, 2002;Bidgood, Saebi and May 2006;Tanggaard, 2013); and (3) students' constructions of themselves (e.g., Colley et al, 2003). However, none of these literatures haves explicitly sought to understand students' motives in terms of the broader life projects that students believe their participation in VET will serve to further.…”