Improving student persistence outcomes in higher education : a theoretical model for an institution-wide retention plan

Many attrition researchers in higher education suggest that a single circumstance of student non-persistence should not be considered in isolation, but instead thought of as one problem in a chain of many, where each is influenced by the attrition problem that precedes it, and where it inturn, impacts on the attrition problem to follow. This presentation examines an all-encompassing retention plan designed to achieve maximum positive outcomes in student retention. The Theoretical Model of an Institution-wide Retention Plan (Wylie, 2005) utilises a multiphasic approach that spans the entire student career. The approach consists of a structured process of interventions that are logically interconnected, where each strategy not only meets the requirements of effective intervention at an identified critical point of student attrition, but also metres appropriate intervention activities to span the interval to the next critical attrition point. The success of an alert system is determined almost completely by the speed with which the vulnerable student is identified and the application of the institution's response. However, earlier dropout alert systems relied heavily on manual processes and an extensive network of staff to transmit the necessary information. As a key piece in the retention puzzle, technological advances now provide the hardware to effect the theoretical model of an institution-wide retention strategy in a more effective and timely fashion.