A theoretical argument is presented to suggest that engineering curriculum be designed to develop social capital. Additionally, the value of social capital in the retention of students in the College of Engineering, and the development, role, and value of social capital in an electrical engineering laboratory is evaluated. Data collected includes participant observations, informal and formal student interviews, and a researcher-designed survey. Social capital consists of interaction among individuals (networks), social rules that encourage interactions such as trust and reciprocity (norms), and the value of these networks and norms to the individual and the group. A large body of evidence suggests that social capital is valuable in terms of retention and multiple measures of academic achievement. The importance of social capital in retention was verified by students that have left engineering and those that remain, in terms of interactions with peers, teaching assistants, and engineering faculty; and a lack of sense of community in freshman engineering courses. Students that have left engineering differed in their perceptions of social capital from those that remain in their frustrations with teaching methods that encourage little discussion or opportunities to ask questions about assumptions or approaches. The open-ended nature of laboratory assignments, extensive required troubleshooting, and lack of specific directions from the teaching assistants were found to encourage the development of social capital in the laboratory setting. Degree centrality, a network measure of social capital as the number of ties an individual has within a social network, was found to be positively correlated with laboratory grade. Student perceptions of the importance of interactions with other students on success in the laboratory setting has a negative model effect on academic achievement in the laboratory. In contrast, student perceptions of the quality of interactions with teaching assistants has a positive effect on measures of academic achievement. The results suggest that social capital is more important to some students than others in terms of retention and academic achievement. Recommendations are made to identify students requiring social capital to be successful, and to provide opportunities for these students to develop social capital. / Graduation date: 2005

Graduation date: 2003

Persistence has been identified as an issue at all levels of higher education, and numerous strategies have been attempted to stem the flow of students who leave an institution before completing their programs of study. Persistence research abounds at the community college, four-year college and university levels, but little research on the subject is available at the postsecondary proprietary level. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to research and describe the developmental program recently undertaken at The Art Institute of Dallas (AID), and to compare the findings to the literature on community colleges. Objectives were to 1) examine the forces which caused AID to implement a developmental program; 2) examine how the program was perceived to be working; 3) compare the description of the program at AID to descriptions of those in community colleges, as described in the literature; 4) examine individual perceptions of benefits or drawbacks to the school as a direct result of the new program; and 5) determine if the key informants saw the developmental program as a vehicle to raise persistence and enhance student success. Originally, AID was an open admissions school, offering basic skills help only in tutorial situations. With the addition of General Education courses to the various curricula, the need for an Academic Improvement Center was discerned. Eventually, the school also saw the need to establish admissions standards, coupled with placement testing, to identify and serve underprepared students. Persistence became an issue, along with the state mandate of The Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), and both contributed to the establishment of a comprehensive developmental education program. Results indicated the need for a student better prepared in numeracy and literacy skills, reflected in the requirements of employers needing employees with abilities to read technical documents, to write reports, to work in teams, and to solve problems. The findings of this study suggest the addition of a comprehensive developmental education program at AID positively affected student persistence. Just as the research on community college developmental studies history, development, and progress unfolded, so also went this postsecondary proprietary school. / Graduation date: 1998

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This study investigates the retention and dropout of mechanical engineering students at a FET college using the interpretivist paradigm. Three key questions are addressed: / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermarizburg, 2008.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Educational systems have experienced a paradigm shift in the 21st century worldwide, and Africa has not been left out. Let alone South Africa which is currently amongst Africa’s top technologically developed countries in Africa. Like in many other countries, the higher education sector in South Africa is a unique and super- complex system, because in addition to the universal change driving forces affecting it, a different impetus for change exists (Mapesela & Hay, 2006:77). Higher education institution models for delivering education are changing to meet new realities from a focus on providers and inputs to students and results. Reformation is no longer confined to the classroom, but has extended to South African public systems and their role in supporting change, advancing efficiency and effectiveness and in building networks capable of meeting students’ needs and supporting institutions at large. The retention of students can have a big financial advantage for the private higher educational institutions in South Africa, hence it has become important for educational institutions to build relationships with their students. The question of which factors influence customer retention and customer loyalty, presents itself. This study identified the antecedents to customer loyalty through the literature review which could possibly influence customer loyalty. This study focuses on the student experiences and satisfaction at the Milpark Business School in Johannesburg by analysing a number of factors that are assumed to impact these areas namely product experiences, moments of truth, peace of mind and outcome focus. The entry of ‘private’ providers of higher education coupled with declining government funding to public institutions is a response to the increasing demand for higher education that has caused a decline in the quality of graduates (Bunoti, 2011:1-2). Such concerns of student outcomes in private higher learning institutions have generated an interest of study to determine their experiences and consequently, their satisfaction. Milpark Business School is one of the private Higher Education Institutions in South Africa providing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree programme through distance learning and its entry requirements, processes, duration and study environments contribute immensely to student outcome. This study follows a descriptive research design. Literature concerning customer loyalty and the antecedents identified will be provided. The study makes use of a sample, which consists of students who are currently registered at Milpark Business School on the BBA Programme. A self-administered questionnaire was designed based on the theoretical literature provided within the study. The questionnaire measured several constructs which were identified through the literature review. The questionnaire made use of a set of statements relating to the theory, and a 5-point Likert scale that allowed respondents to select from five options ranging between strongly agree to strongly disagree. Various statistical analysis procedures were used to accomplish the objectives of the study, including factor analysis, and multiple and sideways regression techniques. The conclusion and findings of the study were found to support the objectives of the study and the results of the statistical analysis were found to accept the hypotheses of the study. The main conclusion and findings are that, although students are satisfied with regard to their interaction with and service provided by Milpark, improvements need to be made in terms of personal attention given to the students, especially by support staff. In particular, the handling of queries by support staff and lecturers needs to be improved in order to give speedy responses to the student in order to retain the student for the future. It is also clear that student satisfaction at Milpark Business School is influenced by the four antecedents namely product experience, outcome focus, moment of truth and peace of mind. Various recommendations for improving customer satisfaction were given, based on the findings of the statistical analysis. The empirical results indicate that all four independent variables significantly influence customer satisfaction, hence, all four variables are equally important to Milpark Business School, and the business needs to ensure that all these variables are correctly managed in order to improve customer satisfaction. Through this study it has become evident that there are various measures that could be implemented by Milpark Business School to improve customer satisfaction and ensure high levels of student retention. The study only investigated customer satisfaction at Milpark Business School, and therefore could not be generalised to other business schools. A study may need to be conducted on a number of such schools in future in order to get more information.

The purpose of the study was to identify factors affecting student retention at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. It has been estimated that 35% of university students leave higher education before completing their studies (Al-Saud, 2006). This study was guided by Tinto’s (1975) Student Integration Theory. Berger and Braxton (1998, p. 104) have stated that Tinto’s integration model ‘has been the focus of much empirical research and has near-paradigmatic status in the study of the college student departure.’ This theory is longitudinal and dynamic and views student retention decisions largely as the results of interactions between the student and the academic and social systems of the institution (Tinto, 1975, 1993). This study used a mixed methods approach. Using the terminology of Creswell (2003), the appropriate description of the overall design of this study is a mixed methods concurrent triangulation strategy. This means that ‘qualitative and quantitative data are collected and analyzed at the same time. Priority is usually equal and given to both forms of data. Data analysis is usually separate, and integration usually occurs at the data interpretation stage’ (Hanson et al., 2005, p. 229). This strategy was selected because it allows the findings to be confirmed, cross-validated, and corroborated within a single study (Creswell, 2003). This strategy consisted of two phases. The first phase was the quantitative approach. Quantitative data were collected from 414 freshman students using two questionnaires administered on two occasions and from the university admission office. The quantitative data were analysed using a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using the AMOS software package. The results of the SEM indicated that Tinto’s model were not useful in predicting the Saudi freshman student retention process. The variables in the model explained only 30 percent of the variance in student retention. The results of the SEM indicated that four of the nine hypotheses proposed in Tinto’s model were supported by statistically significant results. Moreover, only three variables had direct effects on retention. The largest direct effect on retention was accounted for by initial goal and institutional commitment (0.49), followed by later goal and institutional commitment and pre-college schooling as measured by high school scores (0.10). The second phase of this study utilised a qualitative approach. Qualitative data were obtained from three sources: non-persister students, persister students, and staff members. Seventeen non-persister students were interviewed over the phone; 15 persister students were interviewed using a focus group technique; while staff members were asked to complete a survey. Of the 200 surveys distributed, 37 were returned including responses from 16 lecturers, 12 administrators, 5 librarians and 4 academic advisors. A comparison was made between those students who persisted and those who dropped out using constructs from Tinto’s theory. In relation to students’ levels of goal and institutional commitment, it was found that persister students appeared to be more motivated and to have higher levels of goal commitment than non-persister students. Similarly, persister students appeared to have higher levels of institutional commitment than non-persister students, in part it is suggested, due to the fact that the majority of persister students had been able to select their desired majors whereas the majority of non-persister students had not. In relation to the students’ levels of academic integration, there was no significant difference between both groups of students. Persister and non-persister students both exhibited low levels of academic integration into the university system. In addition, there was no significant difference between both groups of students in terms of social integration. Both groups of students indicated low levels of social integration into the university system. In addition, the participants (persister students, non-persister students, and staff members) were all asked to indicate what they perceived to be the major factors affecting student retention at King Saud University. The findings from the qualitative data not only help to explain and confirm the quantitative findings but also identify why Saudi freshman students leave the university before completing their studies. The most important factors were: difficulties of selecting majors, difficulties of transferring between subjects, lack of academic advice and irregularity of monthly reward.

The present thesis is an investigation into the impact and role of formal peer mentoring programmes as retention and enrichment strategies within UK Higher Education. Reviews of the literature highlighted several limitations within the empirical evidence for benefits of mentoring schemes. This thesis systematically evaluated the availability and impact of peer mentoring schemes within UK Higher Education. Firstly, a new measure of wellbeing was constructed and validated in student samples. A UK wide survey of 94 Universities supported the notion of increasing popularity of formal peer mentoring schemes and demonstrated the perceived benefits of peer mentoring as a retention strategy. Employing a theoretically driven longitudinal methodology a controlled comparison between first year students’ attending a UK university with a peer mentoring scheme versus a university without a peer mentoring scheme further substantiated the benefits of peer mentoring. Those within the peer mentoring university were three times less likely to think of dropping out of university, were coping better with the transition to university and were better adapted to university life: an important predictor in intention to leave. The relationship between peer mentoring and intention to leave was mediated by integration in university as proposed by Jacobi (1991). In support of the ‘buffering’ hypothesis existence of peer mentors moderated the relationship between predicted changes in social support, affect and self esteem during the transition to university. Within the fourth research study of first year students at a Scottish university; attitudes towards the introduction of a peer mentoring scheme within a university without such a scheme was investigated. Results indicated a positive perception of mentoring, with no student stating that they would not seek advice from a peer mentor if one was available. Although individuals who were experiencing greater levels of stress and homesickness were more likely to indicate they would use a peer mentor demographic variables did not differentiate between individuals who wanted peer mentors and those who felt less need. The most important attributes of a peer mentor for this sample of 158 first year students were commitment to the scheme and listening skills. Finally the impact of formal peer mentoring schemes within Higher Education was assessed from the perspective of the mentor, employing a qualitative (focus group) methodology at a university with an established peer mentoring scheme. Multiple benefits were indicated including personal, emotional, and academic advantages of becoming a mentor. All of the mentors within this study highlighted numerous motives for becoming a mentor although most important was their own previous experience (negative and positive) of the peer mentoring scheme. The results of each study are discussed in line with previous literature, limitations of the research and suggestions for future research. This thesis concludes that formal peer mentoring schemes can have a positive impact on the mentees, mentors and institutions involved and specifies nine recommendations for policy and practice.

This study attempted to determine if participants in admitted student programs at Ball State University matriculated and persisted at a greater rate and had more academic success than students who did not participate in admitted student programs.Students who participated in one or more admitted student programs matriculated at a greater rate (73.3%) than those who attended on-campus admissions programs (59.0%) and those who did not attend an admitted student program or an on-campus admissions program (42.7%). Matriculates who attended an admitted student program persisted into the second semester of study at a greater rate (93.9%) than those who attended no programs (77.5%), and had a higher mean grade point average in the fall semester (2.85/4.00) than those who attended no programs (2.58/4.00). / Department of Educational Leadership