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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Research indicates that students who reside on campus are more likely than commuter students to persist in their studies until graduation. The purpose of this study is to explore factors that may influence retention for commuter students. Data were collected from 20 commuter students at a primarily undergraduate four-year institution, in three stages: administration of a brief questionnaire, individual in-depth interviews, and a focus group. The qualitative data gained was coded and analyzed, and a grounded theory entitled “the commuter student experience” was developed. The theory contains three main categories, various subcategories, and a mediating variable. The results and findings of this study provide validation for existing areas of research on commuter students; however, they also suggest areas for further exploration. / ix, 107 leaves ; 29 cm

Since Colonial times Education in South Africa was segregated leaving African educational systems disadvantaged with inferior services. The segregation became official when apartheid became an official policy following the general election of 1948 which resulted in the National Government taking over. This report, in particular, is a study at one of the 22 merged Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) that was comprised of previously advantaged and disadvantaged tertiary institutions. The University of Technologies (UoTs) have a history of such segregated education dating back to its origins in 1882, when Technical Colleges were established. While the development of the early technical colleges continued to change its focus and status, inferior services continued until very recently in 2002 when mergers of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) occurred. The democratic government of 1994 developed to many policies in an attempt to repair the damages emanating from the apartheid system. Of the many policies, one was the redressing of educational inequalities that were created by the apartheid system. During the early 1990s and to date there has been poor Higher Education (HE) performance. One of the goals of the 1997 White paper was to improve the throughput rates at HE in terms of pass rates and thus throughput rates. The study focuses on the high failure rate in the Information Administration (IA) course at one of the merged HEIs called Southern University of Technology1 (SUT). What has been conducted is an investigation of perceptions of contributory factors towards the high failure rate in the Information Administration course at SUT. The mentioned UoT has also implemented transformational policies as required by the Department of Education (DoE) but the desires of the Education White paper 3 of 1997 regarding the improvement of throughput rates has not changed. The main findings of the research present the following; lack of preparedness of enrolled students and lecturers in the IA subject , the non-compliance to the institutions assessment policy and procedures, lack of quality assurance and management measures and insufficient accessibility and utilisation of the resources. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

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.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Education in the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / Educationists and political leaders are concerned about the high dropout rates experienced in South African high schools. For the purposes of this research, “dropout” is defined as “one who has not graduated from high school”. Research indicates that the high school dropout rates, both in South Africa and globally, culminate in challenges for the school, the community and society. The multigrade primary school environment sees learners doing well academically, but when these learners move on to high school, the dropout rates increase for these learners. The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the reasons for dropout of learners who have ably and successfully completed their primary education within the multigrade system; and to propose a strategy to assist rural multigrade primary schools in reducing the foreseen dropout rates in high schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method approach was designed in order to determine what strategy could assist rural multigrade schools in Circuit 2 of the West Coast Education District to prevent the dropout rate experienced in high schools. During the preliminary research a scrupulous literature study was done, to determine global trends and to determine which current intervention programmes exist. The quantitative phase of this study was conducted first and consisted of a content analysis of school documents to determine which learners did not complete high school. The qualitative phase followed and the data was collected through face-to-face interviews with principals of rural multigrade primary schools, and learners who had dropped out. This was done in order to determine the perceptions of the principals, and the former learners who had dropped out of the schooling system. This research elucidates the challenges – the inexorable odds – that these multigrade learners have had to overcome in order to complete Grade 12. In closing, it proposes pragmatic strategies which may decrease the high dropout rates that learners, from a multigrade primary setting, experience in future.

The purpose of this study was to further investigate Dr. Ruth Hamilton Romano's (1999) research that identified factors contributing to Hispanic female student retention and graduation. This dissertation studied predominately Hispanic females from a community college located in south Texas to ascertain factors that positively contributed to retention and college graduation. Current student persistence research has focused on why Hispanic students leave college, but this work focuses on the factors that support Hispanics obtaining degrees. Previous research identified six major factors that contributed significantly to student success and graduation. Those factors include academic integration, student integration, institutional commitment, goal commitment, support by significant others, and campus-based aid. The research questions utilized in this study were based out of these six factors. The study queried 229 Hispanic women who graduated in the 2004-2005 academic year. Utilizing a multi-method research approach, both quantitative and qualitative research was used. Research data were gathered through electronic and paper surveys along with focus group and individual interviews. The results of Romano's (1999) study revealed that the two most important factors identified by the Hispanic women were goal commitment and the support of significant others. The results of this study showed that goal commitment and financial aid were the two most important factors. Support by significant others was the third most important factor reported by the women. A new factor emerged from the research that is worthy of future research. Hispanic mothers reported that a driving force for their own academic success and graduation was the need for them to serve as positive role models for their children's educational futures. The Latinas desired to demonstrate through their achievement that educational success was possible for their children. / text

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.