Interim report 2008 9

What Works? Student

Retention and Success

Programme

Interim report 2008-9

The HERE Project

Submitted: 25th September 2009 to [email protected].

HERE Project Interim Report 2008-09 of 127

mailto:[email protected]

Introduction1.1. Institutional context

The HERE project is a joint collaborative project operated by Nottingham

Trent University (NTU), Bournemouth University (BU) and the University of

Bradford (UB). NTU is the lead partner.

The project team is as follows:

Nottingham

Trent University

Bournemouth

University

University of

Bradford

Steering Group

Representative

s

Professor Nigel

Hastings, Pro-vice

Chancellor

(Steering Group

Chair)

Dr Janet Hanson

Head of Academic

Services

Professor Geoff

Layer, Pro-Vice

Chancellor

(Learning &

Teaching)

Project Staff Ed Foster, Study

Support Co-

ordinator, Centre

for Academic

Standards &

Quality (CASQ)

Sarah Lawther,

Learning &

Teaching Officer

(CASQ)

Christine Keenan,

Teaching Fellow,

School of Design,

Engineering &

Computing

Natalie Bates,

Research Assistant,

School of Design,

Engineering &

Computing

Becka Currant,

Dean of Students,

Ruth Lefever,

Research Assistant


Project Background

1.2. Project background, to include:

1.2.1. Aims and objectives

1.2.2. Primary topic/focus and other topics/foci (e.g. academic support,

personal tutoring, study skills development etc)

1.2.3. Target group(s) (if any);

1.2.4. Stage of student lifecycle;

1.2.5. Levels of intervention (individual, discipline/department/faculty,

institution)

The HERE Project aims to research two areas related to student retention:

student doubters and programmes with better-than-peer rates of

retention. We are looking to investigate two areas:

Student Doubters

If a higher proportion of students consider leaving than actually leave, what can

we learn from those ‘doubters’ about staying in higher education? Are there any

systematic differences between doubters and leavers? A basic hypothesis

suggests that students who are less satisfied with their experience, have doubts

about being on the right course, or have considered leaving are more likely to

withdraw from their programme than those who have no doubts1. Different

studies have shown that between 21% (Rickinson & Rutherford, 1995) and 46%

(Ozga & Sukhnandan, 1998) of students have considered leaving their

programme. In 2004-05, 8.4% of UK students did not progress into the second

year (NAO, 2007). However, researchers (Mackie (2001) and Roberts et al (2003)

found differences amongst groups of doubters that meant that many doubters

remained on their courses despite their concerns.

The HERE project is therefore targeting first year students to explore the issues of

doubting:

Are doubters actually more likely to become leavers than non-doubters?

Are there any factors amongst doubters that appear to be stronger

predictors for withdrawing? (For example do doubters who leave have

lower levels of satisfaction with course factors, future goals or friendships?)

1 This may be more ‘normal’ amongst young students. There is some evidence that amongst mature students and those with family commitments, it is often an external crisis (for example a partner being made unemployed or family illness) that leads to withdrawal (Ozga & Sukhnandan (1998), Quinn et al (2005)


Amongst doubters who stay, what factors helped them remain at

university? What were the most important issues and how can institutions

make use of these findings?

Programmes with better-than-peer rates of retention

There is a high degree of variation between the withdrawals rates of students on

different programmes. Some are nationally recognised as having poorer rates of

retention (typically STEM subjects, Business Studies etc) and others traditionally

have very high rates of progression (Law and Art & Design). However within

ostensibly similar programmes there are often striking differences in retention

rates. Staff at NTU conducted an analysis of withdrawals amongst first year

programmes (2005-06 data set) and within programmes requiring 240 UCAS

points on entry, student withdrawals ranged from 0% to 21%.

The second strand of research will seek to explore programmes that appear be

from subject disciplines with ‘average’ or ‘normal’ rates of retention and yet

appear to have a higher rate of retention than their peers. We will be seeking to

uncover any practices that may account for better rates of retention.

Our primary target will be on exploring the experience of first year students. We

will ensure that over the three years we gather data that includes:

Students on STEM subjects

Students from BME backgrounds

Students studying on part-time programmes

At this stage, we believe that the interventions will be at the institutional and

programme level. Our preliminary feedback from student doubters suggests that

the social factors play a particularly important role in motivating students with

doubts. If this trend is confirmed when we are able to analyse students

withdrawals data (October – December 2009), we will be making

recommendations that institutions consider the manner in which they support

student socialisation. The second strand of research (programmes with better-

than-peer rates of retention) will primarily focus on academic programmes,

although we expect that there will be implications that arise for institutions and

individual teaching/ pastoral support.


Glossary of terms

Doubter – student who has responded ‘yes’ to the survey question ‘have you

considered leaving university at some point this year’ on the Student Transition

Surveys.

Non-doubter – student who has responded ‘no’ to the survey question ‘have you

considered leaving university at some point this year’ on the Student Transition

Surveys.

Retention – We use this word generally to indicate the number or percentage of

students who remain at university rather than strictly meaning the number who

graduate.

Progression – Where we use this phrase we are describing a student who

completes the first year and re-enrols on the second year


1.3. Evaluation approach and methodology

The evaluation approach is as follows:

Strand A - Student Doubters

a. Pilot Study - October 2008 (NTU only)

Targeted at first year students within a larger Welcome Week survey

b. Main Survey March – May 2009 (Bournemouth, Bradford & NTU)

40-question online survey actively promoted to all first year students. This was

disseminated by the market research team at NTU and by the team at Bradford

for Bradford and Bournemouth universities.

c. Focus groups May 2009 (NTU)

4 focus groups (1 hour workshops, 13 students in total)

Control group of non-doubters

Selection of doubters

STEM subject doubters

Mature student doubters

Initial data analysis conducted summer 2009, more detailed analysis looking for

stronger indicators of key risk factors (see e below)

d. Analysis of Students’ Union Leavers’ Survey June 2009 (Bournemouth

University)

6 first year students were surveyed after withdrawing part way through the 2008-

09 academic year.

e. More-detailed analysis of student outcomes Oct 2009 – Jan 2010

(Bournemouth, Bradford & NTU)

All student respondents who gave permission for student records are to be

reviewed to be analysed to identify students who actually withdrew or remained.

This data will then be added to results from the survey to identify factors with the

strongest influence over actual withdrawal or retention.


The cycle of analysis is to be repeated in 2010 – 11. There will be an interim

analysis in 2009 – 10 to help modify the research for the final year.

Strand B - Programmes with better than peer rates of retention

a) Developing Research Methodology (All)

The proposed research methodology is to select programmes with a higher level

of retention than their peers and then to survey the programmes for the presence

of a range of interventions, for example the existence of personal tutoring and its

level of support within the programme.

Grey literature such as course documentation will be reviewed

A range of programme staff interviewed

Students on the programme will be interviewed or surveyed

The data will be triangulated from the three sources and findings will be

compared across programmes to see if there are common practices amongst

successful programmes.

A draft questionnaire has been developed identifying a range of possible

interventions. These questions will be developed and we will use the different

iterations to create a Programme Audit Tool for individual programmes to use to

review their own retention practice.

Over the three years, we propose to review seven programmes at each institution

(21 in total). At this stage we propose to analyse some programmes common to

each institution, for example all three have similar business and social science

courses. We will also ensure that some of the programmes are STEM subjects and

will survey part-time courses.

We are testing the programme audit tool and are aiming to share it with other

interested institutions in 2010-11. It is our intention that they will be able to

contribute to its development.

b) Pilot study of two nursing programmes (Bournemouth University)

The pilot study of two programmes at Bournemouth University gave the

programme team some practical experience working with programme staff and

students and has helped shape the development of the Programme Audit Tool.


2. Progress2.1. What have you done this year? (Progress against plan, additional activities,

dissemination etc)

Project Management

The project team have been working together since confirmation was received

from HEFCE in August 2008. However, there have been some delays setting up

the contractual and financial arrangements between the three institutions that

were not fully resolved until summer 2009. This has had a particular impact upon

work at the University of Bradford who, without a subcontract and confirmed

payments, were unable to complete the recruitment process for a research

assistant until August 2009.

Research staff were appointed earlier at NTU (October 2008) and Bournemouth

University (April 2009).

The steering group has met twice, June and September 2009, to receive progress

reports and shape the future directions of the work. A more-detailed work plan

has been developed to ensure that we achieve the project’s objectives.

In some respects the project has been able to start quickly. The three key staff

have worked together previously on the Learnhigher CETL. However, the delay in

initial funding and contracts meant that there has been a delay starting the

project. Its effect has been more marked at Bradford University, although we are

confident that we will regain lost ground in years 2 & 3 of the project.

Research Management & Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was sought at NTU from the Joint Inter College Ethics Committee

(JICEC) for both Strand A and Strand B of the research. Approval was granted for

Strand A on 23 March 2009, Strand B was approved 13 May 2009.

Strand A – Student Doubters

Doubters’ Pilot Survey (October 2008)


At NTU, a pilot survey was disseminated to first year students as part of the

Welcome Week2 evaluation in October 2008. 1,059 students responded (16%

response rate). The findings were used to shape the Student Transition Survey.

Although the questions were aimed at the student experience prior to the first

year, we have evidence from doubters about factors that helped them remain in

education.

Student Transition Survey (March – May 2009)

Students were asked 40 questions about a range of factors such as satisfaction

with elements of the course so far, how hard they were finding the studies, and

whether they understood the differences between studying in FE/ VI form and at

university and what made them consider leaving and stay.

NTU

All first year students were invited to respond to an online survey. 656 students

responded (9% response rate), of these, 37% had considered withdrawing during

the first year.

Four focus groups were then facilitated to garner a deeper understanding about

the issues faced by students:

Control group of non-doubters,

Random sample of doubters

Mature students

Students studying on STEM subjects

In total 13 students participated in the focus groups.

The data has been analysed and preliminary hypotheses developed. The team at

NTU have arranged for statistical analysis experts from the School of Social

Sciences to conduct more detailed analyses of the data.

Bournemouth University

89 students completed the survey, of these 46% had considered withdrawing.

2 Welcome Week is how NTU brands ‘freshers’. It is a collaborative project between the University and Students’ Union offering an extended range of activities that goes beyond alcohol consumption and is particularly targeted at the needs of groups such as local students, international students and mature students.


Furthermore, 6 interviews with students who had withdrawn from university

during the 2008-09 academic year were conducted and analysed.

Students’ Union Leavers’ Survey (June 2009)

The team at Bournemouth worked with the Students’ Union to survey students

who departed during the 2008-09 academic year.

University of Bradford

128 students completed the survey. Initial findings suggest broadly similar

patterns to Bournemouth and NTU, more-detailed analysis is timetabled for the

first term of the 2009-10 academic year.

At this stage though, we have to be a little circumspect about our findings. Our

data demonstrates that a number of factors were important in motivating

students to stay until May 2009, but not necessarily until the end of the academic

year. We are therefore waiting to access the final data sets for the 2008-09

academic years when they are completed at each institution. The academic year

for data collection purposes only ends at the start of the 2009-10 academic year;

final data will only be available to us after October 2009.

Programmes with better-than-peer rates of retention


Staff at Bournemouth completed a pilot study looking at the experience of staff

and students on two nursing programmes at physically distinct locations. 150

students were asked to complete a 10-question survey either side of their first

practice (November – December 2008). Programme staff were interviewed for

their opinions about a range of factors associated with student retention.

NTU

Staff at NTU completed an analysis of the student data set for the 2007-08

academic year to identify programmes with better than peer rates of retention in

two academic schools within NTU: Science & Technology & Social Sciences.

The methodology has been written up and shared within the team to allow the

three partners to use broadly similar approaches.


2.2. What remains outstanding in your plans for 2008-9 and why?

Strand A – Doubters

Due to delays recruiting a research assistant at University of Bradford, we have

been unable to complete the data analysis for the doubters’ survey. This analysis

will be completed between October and December 2009.

Strand B - Programmes

Unfortunately the process of identifying successful programmes has become more

complex than expected. The staff at NTU started by analysing programmes within

the School of Science & Technology and whilst there are programmes that appear

to have a higher rate of retention, they are taught as part of a common first year

with a number of other programmes. The team at NTU will therefore work with a

different school (Social Sciences) in 2009-10. We are therefore behind the original

schedule, as we’d intended to conduct up to two analyses in the first year. We

have re-scheduled our work and plan to conduct a minimum of four programme

analyses in 2009-10. This will bring us back on schedule.

An initial analysis of two nursing programmes at Bournemouth has been

conducted. However, once again the delay recruiting a research assistant has

meant that only a preliminary analysis has been carried out. This analysis has

presented a flavour of the responses from both programmes. The findings have

not been separated into those from the programme with better retention and the

one with poorer and are presented here as an indication of the responses

gathered. In the 2009-2010 academic year, responses will be separated into the

relevant programmes.

2.3. Successes and challenges and implications for future work

Successes

We have surveyed over 2,000 students to identify how many students have

considered leaving their studies. We have detailed information about factors that

lead to students considering leaving and those factors that contribute to staying.

We have extensive information about learning, teaching and lifestyle factors that

impact on the likelihood of doubting.

We are set up to be able to then conduct detailed analysis of those students who

actually withdrew from their studies and be able to compare doubters with

leavers.


Challenges

Delays starting project

As stated earlier, the project started more slowly than we would have liked due to

delays with the initial contract and finance and then setting up the subcontracts

between the partner institutions. The delay has been most noticeable at

University of Bradford, due to the internal operating procedures.

At the June and September Steering Group meetings a revised project plan was

approved and put into action detailing our work plan, dissemination events and

internal reporting mechanisms. We are now confident that we will deliver the

project outcomes.

Better than peer programmes

It has taken longer to develop our methodology for working with academic

programmes than originally intended. This, combined with the high workload

from developing the other half of the project, has meant that we are behind

schedule. The programme analysis is also potentially more challenging as there

are many more variables associated with analysing a programme rather than an

individual’s response to the HE experience.

Nature of respondents

Although the doubters’ surveys have provided us with valuable findings, there are

issues associated with the voluntary nature of the responses. Clearly we are

gathering data from more-motivated students who read their emails, but may not

be reaching some of the more at-risk students.

Different institutional response rates

Different response rates to the Doubters surveys have created some issues. The

response rates vary between 5 – 10% and whilst initial analysis suggests that

similar findings are coming from the different surveys, there is some variation.

But if fewer students respond at one institution, are they the more satisfied (and

therefore happier) or the angry dissatisfied? This makes comparisons more

difficult. In a later section, we have asked for some guidance from the HE

Academy in future years.

Repeating research across the three institutions

The initial proposal has been to repeat the same basic research process at all

three institutions, and whilst we plan to continue with this, it has raised issues,

particularly about combining results and developing a coherent set of conclusions.

We will work hard to ensure that at the end of the project we don’t end up with


three related, but disconnected reports. We have begun preliminary discussions

about having a tighter methodology for the Strand B research, but this would be

an area that we would particularly value input from the HEA team.


3.Findings: impact and

understandingThis section should be the main body of the report, and should provide

information about your findings from this year.

Key Findings

This section is split into two

Strand A – Student Doubters

Strand B – Programmes with better than peer rates of retention


Strand A

Student Doubters


Pilot Study

NTU October 2008

In October 2009, all 6,600 new students at NTU were asked whether they had

considered withdrawing from their prior courses of study. If they had, or had

actually withdrawn, they were asked follow up questions about the factors

involved. 1,059 students responded to the survey (16% of the first year), of

these:

In total, 23% of students had doubted or had actually withdrawn from their

previous programmes of study

36 students (3%) actually withdrew from their previous programmes of

study, citing 52 reasons for actually doing so (1.4 reasons per student)

215 students (20%) had considered withdrawing from their previous

programmes of study

When asked the follow up question, ‘what helped keep you on the course?’

the 215 student doubters cited 337 reasons for staying (1.4 reasons per

student)

The data was collected anonymously, and although overall the majority of the

1,059 had most recently studied a further education course at FE or VI Form

College, a number of respondents appear to be describing how they had

withdrawn from a higher education course.

Unfortunately as the three questions were asked as part of a much larger

Welcome Week/ induction survey, in order to save space, we didn’t students who

had considered leaving why (only those who actually departed), although this

question was asked in the main Student Transitions Survey (March-May 2009).

Student Leavers


Figure 1 – NTU pilot: reasons for withdrawal

Reasons why students withdrew from their previous studies (prior to October

2008) Survey conducted at NTU in October 2008

37 responses from 36 respondents

25

7

32

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Course/ institutionalfactors

Home/ personal Other Finance

Res

po

nse

s

Series1

The 36 students who withdrew from their previous studies cited the following

reasons:

Course/ Institutional Factors

The most commonly-cited reasons related to course and institutional factors.

Most common were concerns about the wrong choice of course/subject

(mentioned 12 times, 23% of total reasons given), for example ‘I was too young

and didn't know which direction I was going so the course was not for me’ or ‘I

realised that I wasn't ready for university at the time and also I had chosen the

wrong course for me.’ Lack of enjoyment or interest in the course was mentioned

9 times (17% of total reasons given). The third course-related thread was

concerned with criticisms of the course e.g. ‘the course was a joke’ or ‘there was

a huge lack of organisation, and the research skills module had some very

disorganised lecturers’.

Lack of support was mentioned by two students although it was unclear as to

whether this referred to academic or pastoral support and from whom.

In total, course-related factors accounted for 25 of the 36 reasons (69%) cited for

withdrawing from prior studies. It’s interesting to note that not one of these

responses relates to students struggling to keep up with their studies. This is

perhaps entirely understandable, we are less likely to see entrants to university


who failed or withdrew because they couldn’t cope with studies at a lower level.

We also suspect that there’s an under-reporting of personal academic matters

and some casting blame onto the teaching staff or institution, for example ‘it was

multimedia design, it was shit.’

Home/ Personal Factors

As might be expected there were a number of students (7) who withdrew due to

personal reasons such as ‘family problems’ and, possibly the best answer to a

survey in 2009, ‘I was young, silly and I fell in love.’.

Finance

Finance was only mentioned by two students as the main reason for withdrawing.

Student Doubters

Student doubters are those students who expressed concern/ doubt about being

on the right course, but continued nonetheless. It is important to note that the

reasons these students gave for remaining on their course are not the opposites

of those reasons that students withdrew. For example we don’t see a large block

of responses associated with the course.

Figure 2 – NTU pilot: reasons for remaining


Reasons why students remained on their courses despite having doubts (prior to

October 2008) Survey conducted at NTU in October 2008


66 66

4440 40

17 1511

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

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Suppo

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Suppo

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Determ

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tern

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Lack

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Overc

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Reasons for remaining despite doubting

The two most popular responses were both future-facing and oriented around

goals and personal objectives, accounting for 132 of the 302 responses (44%).

Wanted to go to university

In the first, 66 respondents stated that wanting to go to university was a reason

that they remained on their programme. For these students getting to university

and being a student were highly important motivators, for example, ‘I wanted to

go to university, so I stuck it out’ and in some there is a palpable sense of

excitement ‘I didn't want to prolong coming to Uni!’. We hadn’t expected to see

university as such an important factor and were interested to see how important a

part of the students’ expectations and goals it appeared to be.

Future Goals

Future goals were usually career-related, e.g. ‘Finding a career path that I wanted

to follow’. Some were about achieving the qualification ‘I thought I was too tired

and stressed to stay on the course as had a 6 week old baby when I sat the A

level exams!! But I just went in and sat them as I knew I needed them to

progress.’ Other responses were stated in aspirational, success-oriented

language: ‘becoming successful’, ‘future plans’, ‘future prospects’ and ‘knowing


what I would get out of it at the end’. In total, 66 respondents cited future goals

as the reason for staying.

Initially, we had grouped all support from other people together, but there may be

more benefit to separating support from the social sphere and professional/

institutional setting. We have therefore created two groups: Support from family

& friends and Support from institutional staff.

Support from Family & Friends

44 students mention support from family and friends as a factor in helping them

remain at university (15%). 34 of the 44 (77%) responses mention friends and 24,

family (33%), (many students mention both). Friends appear to include ‘peers’,

‘classmates’ and, in one instance a boyfriend. The most commonly-mentioned

family member appears to be ‘Mum’, e.g. ‘my mum persuaded me stick it out’.

One student noted that they kept going as they were motivated to succeed by

‘pressure to not let my family down.’

Support from Institutional Staff

40 of the 302 respondents (13%) stated that institutional staff played a role in

keeping them on their course. Most responses appear to suggest that the support

came from a number of staff, suggesting a supportive institutional ethos, for

example ‘support of teachers who believed i was capable of passing because they

believed in me’, fewer refer to a specific tutor, but it’s clear that some individuals

had a very important role, for example ‘my tutor gave me a good talking to’. It

appears that students are referring primarily to teaching staff, 35 staff were

described as ‘teachers’ or ‘tutors’ and three, as ‘staff’, there are only two

references made to pastoral/ professional support ‘student support’.

Determination/ internal factors

The next group of factors for remaining on the course (40 responses) were related

to the personal commitment and drive of the individuals. Of these, ten are

visceral in their determination not to fail or to quit, for example, ‘I hate quitters! I

will always continue it until the end, just to get the qualification and to say that I

finished it!’ Ten use the word ‘determination’, seven ‘motivation’ and one

‘stubbornness’. Although some of these responses are future-focussed, and use

the word ‘ambition’ we have separated these from the future goals as they

appear to be more about factors and motivations within the student facing up to

the problems, rather than forward looking aspirations.


Lack of Choices/ Negative Goals

There were 15 responses indicating that the students felt they had nothing better

to do, or that the other options were worse than remaining with their studies.

These rather fatalistic responses included ‘I had nothing else to do’, ‘no other

options’ and ‘didn't know what I wanted to do otherwise’. One appears to relate

to family pressure to complete studies ‘The fact that my choice was stay at

college or find my own place to live’.

Overcame the Problem

15 students stayed because they managed to overcome the problem that they

were facing, for example ‘overcoming the problems that caused me to want to

leave’; some of the problems appeared to be academic related and were solved

by changing practices ‘[I] spent extra time outside studies revising to help boost

my confidence’. It is worth noting that several of the respondents describe how

they had to change their mindset or perspective to overcome the problem ‘I came

to my senses’, ‘because I knew I was just out of my comfort zone’ and ‘I changed

my mind and I realised that the studying wasn't so hard after all.’ It also appears

that the support of family members, friends and tutors played a role in changing

this mindset, for example ‘[I] grew to like it and had good tutors’.

The Qualification

11 responses indicated that students felt the qualification itself as a factor that

helped them cope. At least one stated explicitly that this was a route to accessing

university and better career prospects. We have chosen to use the term

‘qualification’ rather than learning and teaching because the respondents appear

to be describing the acquisition of a qualification rather than the learning

experience. Possessing the qualification is the important factor.

Other Factors

There were a smaller number of responses associated with successful learning

and teaching and overcoming the personal problems that students were facing at

the time.

Conclusions from the survey

20% of the 1,059 students stated that they had considered withdrawing from their

previous studies, 3% actually withdrew.


Key findings from the pilot

‘College was a means to an end to me and I'm glad I sat it out’

Withdrawal appears to be primarily about the combination of a poor match

between the students’ goals and the reality of studying and their motivation to

continue (robustness) when faced with an uninteresting learning environment.

Persisting appears to be primarily about the motivation stemming from future

goals and the social/ professional/ familial support made available to students.

The institutional lessons from the pilot appear to be:

1) Improve the match between student goals and the reality of the

programme

a. This may mean engaging the students in discussion about the

benefits/ realities of the course and encouraging them to have

realistic outcomes

b. And creating better opportunities or systems to transfer between

programmes for those students unhappy with the experience

2) Improve the social/ professional interaction within institutions

a. Friends and the support of individual tutors features very strongly in

the survey as reasons to stay. The important point appears to be

that students describe their problems/ reasons for leaving as

systematic and process-oriented, yet describe the reasons to stay

in much more personal and emotional terms. The implication of

this first survey appears to suggest that the interaction at the point

of crisis, not just the support systems in place is very important to

motivating a student to stay.


Student Transition Survey (March – May 2009)

The 40-question survey was used at each institution with minor changes to take

into consideration local factors and a few additional questions were added at

Bournemouth and Bradford.

Response rates

At the University of Bradford, 128 first year undergraduate students

responded from a possible 2,500 (5% of cohort).

At Bournemouth University, 89 first year students

At Nottingham Trent University, 656 first year students responded from a

cohort of 6,600 responded to the survey (9% of cohort)

Aim of the survey

We wanted to uncover:

How many students have had doubts about staying on their current

programme?

Why some students thought of leaving?

Why doubters decided to stay?

Student priorities and satisfaction with their experiences of university, in

particular, those experiences that have been shown to affect retention in

previous research.

More detail about these students: age, gender, their ethnic background

etc, to enable us to find any predictors for withdrawal

We also wanted to gain permission to access these students’ course marks and

enrolment status during their time at university to allow us to track whether

students who have had doubts become leavers. This survey was also used to find

students who may be willing to take part in further HERE research, such as focus

groups.

About the survey

The survey was initially written in SNAP (survey software) by the NTU marketing

team and sent via email to all first year students on 23 March 2009. The survey

was open for a month for students to complete online. All completed


questionnaires were entered for a prize draw to win £50 of Amazon vouchers.

Similar prizes were offered at the other two universities.

About the questions

Please see Appendix A for full questionnaire.

The first questions asked the student for their ID number and permission to use

the data anonymously for further research. We then asked the student whether

they were enjoying their course so far and whether they had read any prior

information about their course before coming to NTU (questions 3-5).

The next questions (6-7) were aimed at finding out about the student’s

experiences of their course and university life so far, such as whether the course

was organised, whether they liked where they were living. These questions were

based on prior research on retention (such as Yorke and Longden 2008, Christie,

Munro and Fisher 2004, Willis 1993) as well as findings from the pilot study. We

presented the student with a number of positive statements about their learning

and teaching experiences and their experiences of university life so far and asked

them to rate them on a scale of 1-5, where 1 = ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 =

‘strongly agree’. The student was then presented with the same statements and

asked to rate them according to their importance to them (see example below).

Figure 3 – sample of transitions survey

Q7 Please rate how IMPORTANT the following aspects are to you.

Please use a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = "not at all important"

and 5 = "very important".

1 2 3 4 5

My subject is interesting

Q7 My course is well organised

Q7 I have enthusiastic lecturers teaching on my

course

Q7 My taught sessions (such as lectures and

seminars) are interesting

Q7 Lecturers are accessible

Q7 I feel valued by teaching staff

Q7 The assessment on my course is what I expected it

to be

Q7 The feedback I receive about my work is useful


Q7 I feel confident that I can cope with my studies

This use of two sets of identical statements will allow us to compare the two sets

of answers. If, for example, a student rated that they ‘strongly disagree’ that they

feel valued by teaching staff and rated that this is ‘very important’ to them, is this

a stronger predictor of withdrawal than a student who rated that they ‘strongly

disagree’ that they feel valued by teaching staff but that this is ‘not at all

important’ to them?

Questions 8-10 asked about the student’s prior learning; whether the differences

between their prior learning and learning at university were explained to them,

whether they understood these differences and how difficult they have found their

studies this year.

We then asked about students experience of learning at university so far; how

much focus they were putting on academic studies (compared to other aspects of

their life such as family, part-time work), the grades that they were aiming for at

the end of the first year and on graduation, whether they had a personal tutor,

and how often they saw their personal tutor (questions 11-16).

Questions 17 asked ‘have you considered withdrawing (leaving) at any point

during your first year at NTU?’ (see figure 4).

Figure 4 – considering withdrawal

Have you considered withdrawing (leaving) at any point during your first

year at NTU?

Yes, but I have decided to stay at NTU

Yes, and I have decided to leave NTU

Yes, but I haven't made up my mind yet about my future plans

No, I have never considered withdrawing

Students who answered that they had decided to stay were directed to the

question ‘What has helped you decide to stay on your course?’ (Q18). Students

who answered either that they have decided to leave NTU or that they haven’t yet

made up their minds were directed to the question ‘Please tell us what made you

consider leaving NTU’ (Q19). Students who answered that they have never

considered withdrawing were directed to the following question (Q21).


Questions 22-38 asked a range of questions about the student; their age, gender,

ethnic background, course, about any disabilities, accommodation, whether they

had applied through clearing, whether NTU was their first choice of university,

whether this was their first time living independently and whether they were the

first person in their immediate family to go to university. We then asked students

‘how can we improve this survey?’ (Q39).

The final two questions asked whether the student agreed to be invited to take

part in future HERE research and whether they agreed to allow their course marks

and enrolment status to be accessed from University records during the time they

are registered here and incorporated anonymously with other research findings.

How the data was analysed

A range of data (both quantitative and qualitative) was provided by the survey. An

initial analysis of the quantitative data has been carried out using Excel. The data

will be analysed in more detail when we have information about these students

progression to the second year (after October 2009) using SPSS.

The qualitative answers to the questions ‘what has helped you decide to stay at

NTU’ and ‘what made you consider leaving NTU’ were coded into themes by two

independent researchers using the approach described by Creswell, 2007, of a

‘data analysis spiral’ (Creswell, 2007, p150). The researchers will continue to

analyse the qualitative answers provided from this questionnaire using this

method.

Limitations of the data

We currently do not know how many of the students who completed our survey

will progress into the second year. This data will not be available until after

October 2009. The themes found in this survey therefore tell us about why

students have had doubts, and why they have chosen to stay (or leave) but not

whether these students will eventually become persisters3 (or leavers)4. We hope

to track this data during the duration of the project.

3 Students who stay to complete their degree (put reference for who initially used this term)4 In our overall sample, for example, we have found that 31% of the males who completed our survey

had had doubts about staying at NTU, 41% of the females had had doubts. Our NTU data from 2004-5 however found that males were just over 2% more likely to withdraw than females indicating that perhaps female students have more doubts but don’t necessarily leave because of them.


Key Findings by Institution

Nottingham Trent University

Student Transition Questionnaire

243 (37%) of the 656 respondents had considered leaving during their time at

university so far. Of these, 28% of students had decided to stay, 1% had decided

to leave and 8% were still unsure about whether to stay or leave university.

Respondent Demographics

62% of respondents were females, 38% males

67% were aged 19 – 21, 17% 18 or under, 16% were 22+

94% were from the UK, 6% from overseas

80% classified themselves as white - British, the next largest group was

Indian, with the remaining students spread over another 16 groups

6% stated that they had a disability

13% of UK students were originally from Nottingham City, 13% from

Nottinghamshire, 21% from the East Midlands and 58% from the rest of

the UK

49% currently live in university halls, 15% are in the private rented sector,

14% in private halls of residence, 11% with relatives and 11% in their own

home

64% were living independently for the first time

What has made you consider leaving NTU?

263 reasons were given altogether by 219 individual respondents (1.2 reasons per

student). The figures indicate the number of times a reason was given.


figure 6 – NTU transitions survey – reasons for considering withdrawal

Reasons why students considered leaving (NTU)

HERE Project March - May 2009 (263 responses from 219 individual respondents)

112

3828 26 22

137 7 7 3

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Course-related issues

Student lifestyle (accomm

odation & s...

Finance

Personal incidents/ problems

Personal /Emotional

Homesick/ M

issing family

Other

Doubts about future goals

Lack of support

location

Series1

Course-related factors

The most common theme mentioned by students for considering leaving their

studies were course-related factors, accounting for 43% of all reasons given.

These included wrong choice of course, a lack of interest in the course and

criticisms of learning and teaching. Several students commented about the

problems coping with the workload, for example ‘the workload felt too much’.

Student Lifestyle

The second most common reason given for considering leaving (38 responses,

14%) was associated with the student lifestyle. Students described factors such

as not enjoying the social life of the university, disliking the student

accommodation and having problems with flatmates. One student wrote that

they were struggling to cope with ‘Really bad flat mates into drugs and partying

every night. I was unable to get any sleep and my studies were suffering badly.’

Financial reasons

The third most common reason provided by students considering withdrawal was

financial reasons (28 responses, 11%). There were also fewer doubters that stated

that they were confident that they will have enough money to complete their

course.

Personal Incidents/ Problems


The factors included here are broad and refer to a range of different issues that

happened in students’ personal lives including having twins, deaths in the family,

personal injuries and problems at home. In total students cited 26 examples of

personal incidents and problems.

The following two categories could be aggregated giving a total of 35 responses

(13%); however, we felt that as homesickness was a distinct factor in its own right

associated with the transition into university, it would be better to keep them

separate.

Personal/ Emotional

‘Everything was so new and scary, very overwhelming’. The 22 responses

included in this category cover a broad range of issues ranging from a more

general sense of ‘not fitting in’ to the more serious ‘depression’. It appears that

for some students there are a number of issues connected to how they felt about

being at university. They appeared to have struggled to develop into the new

identity of being a university student and a number describe being stressed about

the transition.

Homesick/ Missing Family

For a small minority of students, homesickness was a significant factor in having

doubts about being on their course. 13 stated that homesickness had made them

consider leaving.

Doubts about Future Goals

‘Future goals/ employment’ is the second-most common factor cited by doubters

to explain why they have stayed. Therefore it’s perhaps not surprising that

uncertainty about how the programme will fit the students’ future needs is a

factor amongst doubters. 7 students stated that they considered leaving due to

‘doubts about future goals’, for example ‘[I] didn’t know if I was doing the right

course or even wanted to be at university’.

Lack of Support

7 students cite lack of support as a reason to consider leaving. This appears to

relate primarily to the academic support provided by tutors and there are three

aspects of concern: problems accessing tutors (‘Most lecturers are not accessible

and you have to take a very long and unhelpful route to even see them about

issues or concerns.’), a sense of a lack of institutional commitment/care towards

the individual (‘[a] SEVERE LACK OF SUPPORT FROM UNI AND NO MATTER HOW

MUCH I COMPLAIN NO ONE SEEMS TO GIVE A SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’), and poor levels


of academic support (‘the feedback given from work is most of the time illegible

and in no way helpful.’).

Location

3 students describe location as a problem, two describe travelling to and from

NTU’s smallest campus as a problem, one, rather more vehemently, cites ‘Awful

university, awful city’ as a reason to consider leaving.


What has helped you decide to stay at NTU?

figure 6 – NTU transitions survey – reasons for remaining

Reasons why Student Doubters stay at University

HERE Project March - May 2009 NTU data 198 responses from 171 first year respondents

55

3428 27

24

14

7 63

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Suppo

rt fr

om fr

iend

s & fa

mily

Futu

re g

oals/

em

ploy

men

t

Deter

minat

ion/

inte

rnal fa

ctor

s

Adapt

ing

to C

ours

e/ U

nive

rsity

Lack

opt

ions

/ har

d to

tran

sfer

/ cos

t

Suppo

rt fr

om In

stitu

tiona

l Sta

ffOth

er

Fina

ncia

l Diffi

culti

es R

esolve

d

Chang

ed C

ours

e

171 students gave comments about what had helped them stay; in total they

made 198 points (1.1 reasons per student).

It’s interesting to note that the relative ordering of importance has changed; in

the FE survey, wanting to be at University and future goals account for 44% of the

reasons why doubters chose to stay on their programmes. There is no

comparable factor to the pull of university in the HE doubters’ survey, for example

no respondent mentions postgraduate studies as a motivator to remain. For the

respondents, the undergraduate course appears to be the last stage on the

educational journey before employment.


Differences between the two surveys

Order of importance in FE

Doubters’ Survey (Oct 2009)

263 responses from 215

respondents

Order of importance in HE Doubters’

Survey (mar – May 2009)


1 Wanted to go to university Support from friends & family ↑

2 Future goals/ employment Future goals/ employment ↔

3 Support from friends & family Determination/ internal factors ↑

4 Support from Institutional

staff Adapting to Course/ University **

5 Determination/ internal

factors

Lack of options/ hard to transfer/

cost ↑

6 Lack of choices/ negative

choices Support from Institutional Staff ↓

7 Overcoming the problem ** Other ↑

8 The qualification Financial Difficulties Resolved **

9 Other Changed Course

** In the pilot survey, most problems students described overcoming appeared to

be of an academic nature. None were explicitly about finance. We have used a

slightly different set of labels in the HE doubters’ responses: adapting to course/

university and financial difficulties resolved. The language used to describe

overcoming the problems is broadly similar, but it does emphasise adapting to the

new learning context whereas in the FE survey, the responses appear to relate

more to overcoming specific coursework problems. It was felt important to keep

financial difficulties as a separate strand.

Support from friends & family

55 respondents (28%) of respondents mention friends and family as a reason for

persisting despite having doubts. As is the case in the pilot survey, friendships

are more important than family support and account for almost 2/3 of the

responses in the group (35 responses or 64%). It appears that support from peers

has become more slightly more important for university students; in the pilot

survey the ratios are 57% friends/ 43% family. This is perhaps understandable as

only 22% of respondents are living in their own, or their family home and so are

perhaps more reliant upon the surrogate families developed in their new

accommodation. Student responses talk of drawing comfort from talking to


people in the same position as themselves, for example: ‘talking to fellow

students who felt the same way I did’ and importantly having the time to develop

more ‘solid’ friendships. One student explicitly talks about feeling more positive

about their life at university after having joined a sports club.

Future goals/ employment

34 respondents (17%) felt that the benefits to their future goals and employment

were important in keeping them at university. Most related directly to future

career prospects ‘I need a good career with good pay’, but a few appear to be

about a more fundamental issue of identity ‘my goal to become something’.

Determination/ internal factors

28 students cited determination as a factor for remaining at university. The

language was notably more measured than in the FE survey, for example ‘I have

made a commitment that I should stick with’.

Adapting to Course/ University

We coded the ‘overcoming problems’ heading used in the FE survey slightly

differently to reflect the slightly changed emphasis students place. 27 responses

describe how students have overcome doubts by adapting to the institution and

the academic expectations upon them. The language is similar in tone to the

friendship responses, primarily about acclimatising to the new environment and

having time to adjust, ‘I became more comfortable with the studies’, ‘[I became]

familiar with the structure of the course and the lecturers’ and ‘settled in more’. 9

responses indicates that this goes beyond acclimatising and they describe liking

or enjoying the course, e.g. ‘I enjoy the course too much’.

Lack options/ hard to transfer/ cost

As with the pilot survey, there are a number of students (24) who have decided to

stay due to a perceived lack of options. Unlike in the FE survey, almost half of

this group (10) state that finance and the lost opportunity cost of a wasted year

are reasons to continue with their studies. For example one student wrote that

‘the fact that if I did leave I would still have to pay my student loan but I wouldn't

have had anything to show for it.’ Some students were resigned to the fact that

they needed simply a degree and not completing a programme would put them at

a disadvantage, and others felt that they were unable to transfer their credits to

other institutions: ‘There are no other Uni’s that I can transfer my degree to

otherwise I probably would’.

Support from Institutional Staff


Most typically, the 14 students described support from their tutors, but five picked

out student support services explicitly, a higher proportion than in the pilot study.

Financial Difficulties Resolved

Again student services played a role in some of the 6 responses, along with

additional money from students’ families and help negotiating with the University

regarding payment arrangements.

Changed Course

Finally, three students had managed to change course and therefore felt that they

were on a programme more suited to their needs.

Impact of Student Demographics on incidence of doubting

Gender

41% of female students had considered withdrawing, only 31% of males had.

Age

37% of students aged 19-21 had considered leaving, incidences broadly rise with

age, 42% doubters amongst 22-25 year olds and 44% amongst 26-45 year olds.

Disability

36% of those students who declared that they had no disability had considered

withdrawing (n=595). However, 50% of those who stated they had a disability

had declared that they had considered withdrawing, as did 52% of those who

chose not to declare.

Home location

41% of students from the City of Nottingham had considered withdrawing, in

contrast with only 25% from Nottinghamshire. Those from the East Midlands and

the rest of the UK doubted at 37 and 38% respectively.

UK/ International students

39% of international respondents had considered withdrawing, 2% higher than the

37% of UK doubters

Ethnicity

NTU uses 18 different ethnic descriptors; the largest of these (White-British) had a

doubt rate of 36%, marginally below the average. The highest incidence of


doubting was amongst the five students of Mixed-Black Caribbean and White

origins (80% doubt rate), but the numbers are so small that they ought to be

treated with care. Amongst the four Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi students,

none had considered leaving. Clearly there is a very broad spread, but at this

stage, the small sample sizes for most groups will restrict the usefulness of the

data.

First generation in Higher Education

48% of respondents to the survey stated that they were the first person in their

immediate family to come to university, 39% of them had doubts compared to

35% amongst those for whom other members of the family had already

experienced higher education.

Student Lifestyle and other factors

Route to university

Amongst students entering University through the normal UCAS process, 37% are

doubters, amongst those who entered through the clearing process, 45% had

considered leaving university. However, this is slightly contradicted as we also

asked the question ‘was this your first choice of University?’. 38% of those who

answered ‘yes’ had considered withdrawing, only 31% of those who said ‘no’ felt

the same.

Accommodation

Interestingly, 37% of students who lived away from home for the first time had

doubts and so did those students who were not living away from home for the first

time. Those living with relatives were least likely to have doubts (30%), those in

private halls the most (42%), other types of accommodation such as NTU halls

had doubt rates of 37 – 39%.

Information from the University

Most students had read the information sent to them by the university before they

started. 81 (12%) had not though. The rate for considering withdrawing was the

same amongst both groups (37%).

Accuracy of information from the University

This however was strikingly different, 36 students (5%) found that the information

was either ‘not very accurate’ or ‘very inaccurate’. Although the numbers are

small, 73% and 67% of students in these groups had doubts about being at


University, against 37% who found it ‘reasonably accurate’ and only 27% of those

who found it ‘very accurate’.

Understanding the nature of higher education

Only 52% of respondents felt that since coming to university, anyone had

explained the difference between learning at university and earlier educational

institutions. Amongst these students 33% had considered leaving whereas 42%

of those who had not been informed about the differences had done so.

Furthermore, when asked how much they understand the differences between HE

and other systems of education, 62% of those who didn’t understand the

differences had doubts, against 38% who understood a little and 30% of those

who understood in detail.

Coping with studies

Students were asked to report how hard they had found their studies on a scale of

1-5 (1= not at all difficult, 5 = very difficult). Those who reported finding it very

difficult were extremely likely to have doubts (74% of the group). Those least

likely to have doubts were amongst those who found it fairly easy (27% doubters).

The small group (13) who found it very easy were marginally more likely than

average to have doubts (38%).

When asked to report how hard they were working, those working the hardest

were slightly more likely than average to have doubts (38% doubters), those not

working hard at all were much more likely to have doubts (69% doubters) and the

group with the lowest level of doubts were those who reported to be working fairly

hard (30% doubters).

Academic Outcomes

Students were asked what grade they were aiming for upon graduation and at the

end of the first year. Interestingly, 54% believed that they were going to get a

first class honours degree when they graduated. As might be expected, those

aiming for a higher classification were less likely to have doubts. Amongst those

who claimed to be aiming for a 3rd class honours degree, 100% had doubts about

being at university. Only 27% of respondents were aiming for a 1st class grade by

the end of the first year and once again, there is a correlation between aiming for

a higher grade and a lower incidence of doubting.

Academic tutors/ Pastoral support

The results are slightly contradictory as 53% of respondents claimed to have a

personal tutor at NTU, but all students answered the question ‘how often do you


see your personal tutor’. It appears that there was an oversight in setting up the

questionnaire and non-respondents should have been moved to the next

question. 38% of students who reported that they didn’t have a personal tutor

had doubts against 36% who did. The most common answer to how often do you

see your personal tutor is ‘less than monthly’ and may be partly explained by the

problem with the questionnaire. The small number of students who have

fortnightly meetings with their tutors (11 students) report a 27% incidence of

doubting, 33% amongst those seeing their tutors monthly, 34% amongst weekly

and 38% amongst less often than monthly. This appears to be much les

significant than we had imagined it might be.

Mode of study

The very small number of part-time respondents (14 students) were more likely to

have doubts than their full-time counterparts (43% compared to 37% amongst full

time students).

Academic Schools

NTU has nine academic schools. When responses are analysed by school, the

highest incidence of doubting was 50% and the lowest 27%.

Campus

NTU has three academic campuses. Doubt rates were 38% at the main city

centre campus, 37% for the smaller suburban campus and 35% at the much

smaller agricultural site.

Testing Student Satisfaction about the learning environment with the

incidence of doubting

All students were asked to evaluate the importance of 17 academic and student

lifestyle factors, for example ‘I have enthusiastic lecturers’. They were then also

asked to what extent they agreed with the statement on a scale of 1 – 5 (1 –

disagree strongly, 5 – agree strongly). In the next section we describe this

agreement as ‘satisfaction’ with the experience. Whilst strictly, we asked

students ‘how much did you agree’, not ‘how much are you satisfied’, we feel that

using the term ‘satisfaction’ makes the next section more readable than ‘the

extent to which the participant agreed with the statement’.

Figure 7 - NTU Student Satisfaction compared to Experience– all students


ig

On average

In 15 of the 17 areas, students report a higher importance than satisfaction.

Satisfaction is, on average, 12% lower than importance for this group of all

students.

For example, in response to the statement ‘My subject is interesting’, 91% of all

students report that it’s important that the subject is interesting and 85%, report

that their subject has been interesting so far. The two areas where students

indicate a higher level of satisfaction than importance are against the measures ‘I

have an enjoyable social life’ and ‘my fellow students are supportive’. It is also

interesting to note that this phenomenon is almost repeated in a third area ‘my

family is supportive’; 83% of students report that their family is supportive and

84%, that having a supportive family is important. These differences between the

importance and satisfaction about social factors are repeated in both the doubters

and non-doubters results.

We would tentatively suggest that this strengthens the case for more

consideration to the importance of social and lifestyle factors within institutions.

The largest gaps between importance and satisfaction are those associated with

having enough money (27%), quality of feedback (24%) and course organisation

(22%).

Non-Doubters

413 students (63%) reported that they had not considered withdrawing from their

course. We found that across all measures they had rated both importance and

satisfaction more highly than doubters. Also the gap between importance and

experience was relatively low, on average only 8%.


67%

68%

68%

68%

73%

74%

74%

77%

80%

81%

81%

82%

83%

84%

87%

89%

91%

49%

60%

50%

70%

74%

59%

47%

66%

59%

57%

59%

63%

67%

83%

82%

86%

85%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

I feel valued by teaching staff

Assessment on my course is what I expected

I know where to go if I have a problem

My fellow students are supportive

I have an enjoyable social life

I like where I am living

I'll have enough money to finish my course

Lecturers are accessible

My taught sessions are interesting

Feedback on my work is useful

My course is well organised

I'm confident that I can cope with my studies

I have enthusiastic lecturers

My family is supportive

I have easy acess to University resources

Completing my degree will help me achieve future goals


Agree

Importance

Figure 8 - NTU Student Satisfaction compared to Experience– non-doubters

71%

72%

69%

71%

73%

75%

76%

79%

83%

84%

83%

88%

85%

85%

90%

92%

94%

58%

67%

55%

77%

81%

65%

55%

74%

68%

64%

66%

78%

75%

88%

84%

91%

92%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%


















Agree

Importance

The largest gaps between importance and satisfaction were the same as for the

group as a whole: money (21%), quality of feedback (20%) and course

organisation (17%).

Student Doubters

Doubters have lower scores in both importance and actual satisfaction.

Furthermore the gap between importance and satisfaction is much larger (21%

difference). We might expect a lower level of satisfaction, but it’s interesting to

see a lower score on importance too. This suggest a level of semi-detachedness,

that students don’t feel as invested in their experience as their non-doubting

peers, or may reflect that students were feeling more negative about the

experience and so found it harder to score anything highly.


Figure 9 - NTU Student Satisfaction compared to Experience – Doubters

60%

61%

67%

65%

72%

72%

70%

74%

75%

76%

79%

73%

78%

82%

84%

83%

86%

34%

46%

40%

58%

61%

49%

33%

54%

43%

44%

48%

39%

53%

76%

78%

77%

73%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%


















Agree

Important

The largest gaps have a slightly different ordering. Once again money is the

largest (37%), but second is confidence that students can cope (34%) and two

factors are joint 3rd with a 32% gap: feedback and interesting sessions.

Some analysis of the impact of satisfaction on propensity to have doubts

When each of the 17 factors are analysed, it is very apparent that if a student

rates the experience more negatively, they are more likely to be a doubter.

For example, 63% of students who disagreed with the statement ‘my course is

well organised’ had doubts about being at university. 40% of those who answered

neutrally had doubts and only 30% who answered the statement positively were

doubters. Therefore those students who answered the question negatively, were

more than twice as likely to have considered withdrawing from university.

On average across all 17 statements:

63% of students who disagreed with a statement were likely to be

doubters

45% of students who answered neutrally were doubters


30% of students who answered positively were doubters

There appears to be therefore a relationship between a poorer level of satisfaction

and having doubts; whilst this is clearly stating the obvious, it’s interesting to see

the actual numerical difference.

However, some individual factors appear to have a stronger impact on the

likelihood of having doubts. For example, 93% of those students who do not find

their subject interesting are doubters, whereas only 53% of students who do not

know where to go if they have a problem have doubts.

The relationship between factors are in the table below. It’s interesting to note

that those connected to interest in the subject and the learning process, a

meaningful relationship with academic staff (accessible lecturers, feeling valued)

and future goals have a stronger impact on doubting. Those factors associated

with having a poorer quality of social life, resources or feedback do not have a

strong impact on doubting. That’s not to say these factors aren’t important, but

that having a poor quality of experience is not significantly more likely to make a

student have doubts.


Figure 10 NTU the relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the

individual factors and the impact on doubting, ranked in order of respondents who

DISAGREED with the statement and were doubters

% of

respondent

s who

disagreed

with this

statement

who were

doubters

% of

respondent

s who were

neutral

about this

statement

who were

doubters

% of

responden

ts who

agreed

with this

statement

who were

doubters

My subject is interesting 93 56 32

I feel confident I can cope with my

studies

78 54 23

Lecturers are accessible 71 42 30

Completing my degree will help

me achieve future goals

67 57 33

I feel valued by teaching staff 66 37 26

My taught sessions are interesting 65 48 27

My course is well organised 63 40 30

Assessment on my course is what

I expected

63 42 29

I have enthusiastic lecturers 62 49 30

I have enough money to finish my

course

59 34 26

I have an enjoyable social life 58 51 31

My family is supportive 57 51 34

Feedback on my work is useful 57 43 29

I have easy access to university

resources

56 41 35

My fellow students are supportive 56 49 31

I like where I'm living 53 39 31

I know where to go if I have a

problem

53 37 30


Figure 11 NTU - Relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the

individual factors and the impact on doubting, ranked in order of respondents who

AGREED with the statement and were doubters

% of

respondent

s who

disagreed

with this

statement

who were

doubters

% of

respondent

s who were

neutral

about this

statement

who were

doubters

% of

responden

ts who

agreed

with this

statement

who were

doubters

I feel confident I can cope with my

studies

78 54 23

I feel valued by teaching staff 66 37 26

I have enough money to finish my

course

59 34 26

My taught sessions are interesting 65 48 27

Assessment on my course is what I

expected

63 42 29

Feedback on my work is useful 57 43 29

Lecturers are accessible 71 42 30

My course is well organised 63 40 30

I have enthusiastic lecturers 62 49 30

I know where to go if I have a

problem

53 37 30

I have an enjoyable social life 58 51 31

My fellow students are supportive 56 49 31

I like where I'm living 53 39 31

My subject is interesting 93 56 32

Completing my degree will help me

achieve future goals

67 57 33

My family is supportive 57 51 34

I have easy access to university

resources

56 41 35

When the results are ranked by the impact of agreeing with the statement on

doubting, the results are not simply inverted.


Only 23% of students who agreed with the statement, ‘I feel confident I can cope

with my studies’ identified themselves as doubters. In other words students who

are confident that they can cope have a very low incidence of doubting when

compared to any other risk factor.

Whilst not finding the subject interesting is more likely to lead to a student

doubting, finding it very interesting does not appear to lead to a significantly

lower incidences of doubting. There are 13 other factors that students agreed

with a lower level of doubting. It may be that an interesting subject is a hygiene

factor.

Those factors that, when answered positively, lead to a lower incidence of

doubting related to: confidence coping, some aspects of learning and teaching

(feeling valued and interesting taught sessions) and having enough money to

cope.


Student Transition Survey



46% of the 89 respondents had considered leaving during their time at university

so far. Of these, 38% of students had decided to stay and 8% were still unsure

about whether to stay or leave university.

Respondent Demographics

89 first year students (enrolled as first year students in 08-09) responded to

the survey overall.

70% female; 30% males

Age range:

16-18: 11%

19-21: 61%

22-25: 10%

26-45: 16%

46+: 2%

92% UK; 8% international/EU

Of the UK students, 62% were from Dorset/Hampshire/South West; 38% from

rest of the UK

The majority classified themselves as White:

93% White

2% Asian

1% Mixed

1% Other

2% Unspecified

11% said they have a disability; 3% did not wish to declare

42% currently live in Bournemouth Halls of residence

15% live in private halls of residence

21% live in private rented/shared houses

12% live with their parents

10% live in their own homes

59% said this was their first time living independently


Student profile – Study

84% applied through the standard UCAS process; 8% through clearing; 7%

applied directly to Bournemouth University and 1% transferred from

another university midway through the first term

87% said that Bournemouth had been their first choice of University, whilst

13% named other institutions as their first choice

55% said they were the first person in their immediate family to go to

university

78% undergraduate (BA/BSc), 10% undergraduate (LLB), 4% foundation and

8% diploma/advanced diploma

97% full time; 1% part time, 2% part time distance learning

Academic Schools

27% The Business School

16% School of Conservation Sciences

10%Design, Engineering and Computing

19% School of Health and Social Care

12% The Media School

16% The School of Services Management

What made students consider leaving?

Wrong choice of course/not happy with course

Financial reasons

Homesickness – missing friends and family

Personal problems

Disheartened by assignment marks

Managing workload

Feeling alone/not getting on with housemates at university

Not adjusting well to university life

Student quotes:


‘The course is very, very challenging, and my grades are always disappointing to

me, no matter how hard I work. I think I would feel better about these is I got

some personal feedback in detail from my marking lecturers. I am aware that the

course is of an excellent quality but I feel that there is not enough time to learn

everything needed and it is difficult to balance time proportionately. I feel like the

course is not tailored enough to individual requirements and interests which

might give me more of a focus to my learning. I find my work more stressful than

enjoyable’

‘The pure lack of organisation and communication across the school. The lack of

consistency with lecturers and the fact that there does not appear to be an

appropriate level of support for first year students’

‘Just don't really enjoy uni. Find it hard to be away from home, friends and family’

‘Course seemed a bit pointless at times’

‘It was a bit overwhelming at the start and I questioned whether I should be at

university at all’

‘I panicked due to the fact that bursary is hard to live off, to pay bills rent and

food’

‘I find my course interesting but struggle with what exactly we should be looking

at during independent work and how much to do, which in turn makes me feel like

I’m not achieving’

‘I find that some lecturers aren't very helpful and don’t reply to emails etc. when

you ask for their help and aren't very encouraging’

What has helped students decide to stay at Bournemouth University?

Ambition to achieve future goals – determination and perseverance

Friends (both at home and university) / flatmates / course mates

Receiving help and support from the university and lecturers

Interesting course

Family

Well structured workload

Getting good grades for assignments done so far

Personal tutorials


Student Quotes:

‘It is a course that I really wanted to do, and even though it has been hard

sometimes I know that in the end it is definitely worth it’

‘Support from family and friends has really helped me. Also achieving the grades I

am has given me the confidence boost I needed’

‘My determination and the support of friends, family and my personal tutor’

‘Friends and also considering the alternatives if I was to leave’

‘Being here I have received all the help and support I've needed and more, this

has made me want to continue and see the degree through to the end!’

‘Friends and realising the importance of finishing my degree’


Current course experiences: doubters vs. non-doubters

Overall, non-doubters appear to have had more positive course experiences so far

than doubters, for example, having confidence to cope with coursework and

knowing where to go for help. Doubters, however, did experience marginally more

support from family and fellow students than the non-doubters.

Figure 12 – Bournemouth – difference between importance & experience – all

students

33%

35%

48%

43%

48%

53%

63%

45%

45%

75%

45%

75%

65%

88%

68%

70%

85%

45%

49%

55%

64%

64%

66%

68%

70%

72%

72%

74%

74%

74%

85%

91%

96%

96%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%


My course is w ell organised

The feedback I receive about my w ork is useful

The assessment on my course is w hat I expected it to be

I am confident that I w ill have enough money to complete my course

My taught sessions(such as lectures, seminars) are interesting


I w ould know w here to go w ithin the university if I had a problem

I feel confident that I can cope w ith my coursew ork


I have enthusiastic lecturers teaching on my course


I like the house/flat/halls that I am living in


I have easy access to university resources e.g. computers, library booksthat I need)


Completing my degree w ill help me achieve future goals (e.g. career)

Non-doubters

Doubters

Important course factors: doubters vs. non-doubters

There were mixed differences between the factors that doubters and non-

doubters felt were important. Non-doubters, for example, felt it was more

important that lecturers are accessible and enthusiastic, and that the course is

well organised. Doubters, in contrast, placed higher importance on receiving

useful feedback about their work and liking where they live.

Figure 13 – Bournemouth – difference between importance & experience – all students


98%

90%

90%

95%

75%

70%

68%

95%

90%

68%

80%

98%

83%

80%

73%

88%

93%

100%

98%

98%

96%

91%

72%

66%

89%

89%

64%

79%

94%

87%

72%

72%

91%

96%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%




My taught sessions (such as lectures, seminars) are interesting





I feel confident that I can cope w ith my course w ork



I have easy access to university resources e.g. computers, library booksthat I need)






Non-doubters

Doubters

Comparing experience with expectations: Non-Doubters

There are big differences between some of the non-doubter’s experiences and

expectations, such as organisation of the course and useful feedback on their

work. Important aspects were matched by experience for non-doubters in relation

to completing their degree to achieve future goals and having an enjoyable social

life.

Figure 14– Bournemouth – difference between importance & experience – non-doubters

72%

98%

89%

66%

91%

96%

91%

87%

89%

72%

98%

64%

72%

79%

94%

100%

96%

45%

49%

55%

64%

64%

66%

68%

70%

72%

72%

74%

74%

74%

85%

91%

96%

96%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%













I like the house/f lat/halls that I am living in


I have easy access to university resources e.g. computers, librarybooks that I need)



Agree

Importance

Comparing experience with expectations: Doubters


Similar to the non-doubters, the doubters’ biggest difference between importance

and experience was their course being well organised. There is also a large gap

between the importance of receiving useful feedback compared to their actual

experience of receiving useful feedback.

Figure 15– Bournemouth – difference between importance & experience – Doubters

70%

90%

95%

68%

88%

95%

75%

83%

90%

73%

90%

68%

80%

80%

98%

98%

93%

33%

35%

48%

43%

48%

53%

63%

45%

45%

75%

45%

75%

65%

88%

68%

70%

85%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%













I like the house/f lat/halls that I am living in


I have easy access to university resources e.g. computers, librarybooks that I need)



Agree

Importance


Focus groups (NTU)

May 2009

A selection of students who had agreed to take part in further research in the

HERE Transition Survey were contacted by email and invited to take part in a

focus group to talk more about their experiences. These students were selected

from the groups who had doubts, but remained and those who had not doubted in

the first place. Participants were given a £15 Tesco voucher at the end of the

session.

Structure of groups

Four structured ‘group’ activities were facilitated

1 non-doubters control group – 6 students

Three focus groups of student doubters who had decided to stay5 (6

participants in total)

Furthermore, one student contacted us to ask if they could speak to us

individually and so was interviewed.

Limitations of data

All students that we spoke to were female (no males replied to our emails). Four

students were mature students, one student was a mature international student,

one student was an international student and one student was a home student

with English as a second language. This is therefore not representational of the

profile of the total respondents. The initial themes emerging from these two

groups are discussed here. All names have been anonymised.

Student doubters who had decided to stay

There seemed to be a spectrum of reasons why students who had had doubts had

decided to stay, ranging from those students that were staying only because they

felt they had no choice to do otherwise to those that had made a positive decision

to stay.

5 We didn’t contact students who had stated that they were still not sure about whether to stay at university.


There were two students, Michelle and Sharon, who stated that the only reason

they were staying was because they felt that they couldn’t leave because of

finances and time. These students described a focus on placements and

employment upon leaving.

At the other end of the spectrum were two students (Sara and Charlie) that had

made a conscious decision to stay and were happy with their choice to stay.

There were three students in the middle of this spectrum. One student (Jane), for

example, described that she was staying because it was her ‘last chance’ because

of her age, but also that she had resolved some of the difficulties that she had

had at the beginning of the course and now feeling ‘more comfortable’ here.

Key differences between doubters who had decided to stay and those

students that had never had doubts.

Relationship with personal tutor/staff

The two students who described staying because they had no other choice both

described having no-one to talk to. Of the three students in the middle of the

spectrum, two also described having no-one to talk to and one described having

one tutor that had been of help. The two students who had described making a

positive decision to stay both described having a tutor that they could talk to and

who had helped them to stay.

All of the students who had never had doubts about being at university all

described that they had someone that they could talk to (either a personal tutor

or a lecturer).

Belonging

The two students who described staying because they had no other choice both

described that they didn’t feel part of the university,that they didn’t ‘fit in’, “I

don’t seem very involved with the University to be honest”. A theme that

emerged here was one of recognition, that “probably if I see my tutor on the road,

he wouldn’t recognise me”.


Charlie, on the other hand, who had had doubts but made a positive decision to

stay, described that now she could recognise places and people, “I feel better now

because now I feel like I know where everything is and I always see someone

walking around that I know if I want to stop and talk to them”.

All of the students who had no doubts could all describe the time when they felt

that they belonged to the university, either through societies, or again, through

recognising others “I think it starts when you walk down the street and you see

someone and you go hey … I know them from University and that’s what made

me feel like it [like I belonged]”.

Finance

Both non-doubters and doubters described struggling with finance. However,

doubters also complained that they felt that they were not receiving good value

for money. If, for example a lecturer failed to attend a lecture, doubters

complained that they weren’t receiving the service they had paid for and

compared the service to that their friends were receiving.



Student Leavers’ Survey

June 2009

Background

The past experience of Bournemouth University’s Students’ Union (BUSU) has

shown that involvement in community and volunteering work (Bournemouth

University Students’ Union Leadership Programme) can be a real motivating factor

for students, not only enhancing their personal development but also providing

opportunities to meet new people. The Student’s Union evaluated the

involvement of students in voluntary and community activities over the past four

years. Results highlighted the positive impact such involvement can have. For

example:

It was the main reason I stayed at uni. I had actually considered leaving before I

did it – it gave me a great way to make new friends and do something other than

my coursework that was worthwhile.

I remember sitting in my room in the student village and thinking ‘I haven’t met

anyone. I can’t do this’. Champs gave me something to do with my time and gave

me the opportunity to meet people and do something helpful at the same time. I

really was going to go back before I came up (to the SU).

Therefore it was decided to survey student leavers to identify whether or not

participation in such activities might have helped students who withdrew to

remain. In particular feedback on the impact of the Leadership Programme and

Speed Meet events were tested.

Student leavers (first year students in the 08-09 academic year) were contacted

approximately 4 months after they departed and were invited to complete an

online survey. Unfortunately mid-way through the survey process the staff

member left the university and consequently the planned follow-ups to improve

response rates to the survey were not undertaken and this work is more limited

than originally intended.

Sample profile


A total of 6 students completed the first year experience survey, all of whom left

university between 4 and 10 weeks after their arrival. The students were aged

between 18 and 23 and all of them had studied at Talbot Campus in their first

year. The students were enrolled on courses in three academic schools, and lived

in a variety of accommodation types.

Reasons for leaving university

When asked to list their three main reasons for leaving in order of importance,

four participants responded. The most common reasons cited were

homesickness, a lack of money and living in a Uni-let were the most important

reasons that caused the students to withdraw. Course related issues featured

more prominently as a second factor, where courses had differed to student

expectation or they had not enjoyed their chosen course. One student "hated the

lifestyle" and named this as a second influential factor. Third reasons for leaving

included being unhappy in a flat, the Bournemouth nightlife and homesickness

again.

Use of spare time

To gain an indication of the students’ involvement in university life, the

participants were asked what they did when they were not in lectures or

seminars, what they did in their free time and who they spent their time with.

Four students responded to these questions, two of whom spent their time on

campus between lectures, either wandering around with friends and people from

their course or relaxing in the food hall and Dylan’s Bar. One respondent chose to

study at home in their spare time or go into town with friends; another student

just stayed at home.

Involvement in Students’ Union activities

Four students answered questions relating to the Students’ Union at Bournemouth

University. All four participants confirmed that they knew about the Students’

Union whilst they were studying at university and two of them had actually visited

the Students’ Union offices during their time there. Two participants knew about

the SUBU Leadership Programme and one person knew of SUBU Speed Meet.

None of the students, however, chose to take part in these activities and no-one

knew about the SUBU Leadership taster sessions. Reasons for not participating in

these activities included not knowing about them, being interested in other

activities that clashed with the Students’ Union programmes and not having

anyone to go to such activities with.

Of the students who were unaware of the SU activities available to them, two said

that they would have considered taking part if they had known about the


activities as it would have provided the chance to meet new people and would

have given them something to spend their time on. One student claimed that

being aware of the activities would not have made any difference, stating ‘it’s not

my sort of thing’.

Friendships

Four out of the six participants answered questions relating to friendships at

university. Before joining university, all four students considered making new

friends as important to them. One student explained that they felt it was

important to make new friends to make the experience more enjoyable. It was

considered both quite important and very important by the majority of

participants to make one or a few close friends at university. In addition, the

students also felt that it was important to make a few causal friendships. With

regard to the type of friendships made, there was mixed opinion as to whether it

was important to have friends that were like themselves or different from them.

Most, however, believed it was quite important to have lots of different friends.

After joining university in September, two of the students considered that they

had made the friends they had intended to, commenting that they had made

friends with a variety of different people. In contrast, another two students

believed they had not made the friends they would have liked to, expressing that

they had not made any close friendships. Those students who were successful in

making their intended friendships highlighted three main reasons that enabled

them to do so – taking part in social events, talking to other students in the first

few lessons or enrolment; and living with a large number of other people. Those

students that did not make the friendships they had wanted felt that a number of

practical and personal reasons had prevented them. Such factors included not

being aware of all the opportunities that were available to meet people, living in a

Uni-let property and personal feelings of shyness, unhappiness and ‘not feeling

like myself’.

Three of the students found it either fairly easy or very easy to make friends while

they were at university and only one student found the general experience of

making friends fairly difficult. To make new friends, the four participants made the

effort to socialise, in particular talking to as many people as possible on their

course. Attending sports classes and social events was also a popular method

used to make friends.

Three students agreed or strongly agreed that it was important to feel like they

belonged when making friends and that it was important to make friends so that

they did not feel like they were alone. All of the participants agreed that it was


important to have others to share their time with and all four students also agreed

or strongly agreed that it was important to have others to share new experiences

with and to have fun or enjoyment with. The majority of students agreed or

strongly agreed that it was important to make friends with others who could help

them out if they needed it and to also have others who they could talk to about

their problems.

Not all students agreed with all of the friendship statements in the survey. Whilst

most of the students felt it was important to make friends with people who would

introduce them to other people, one participant disagreed that this was important

to them. Three students strongly agreed that it was important to make friends

with someone who could give them advice, yet one student disagreed that this

was an essential friendship quality for them. Whilst most students agreed that it

was important to make friends with someone who would listen to them when they

were upset, one participant disagreed with the importance of this quality when

making friends.

When asked to comment on the impact friendships had on the students’

enjoyment at university, two students believed that the quantity of friends made

at university had an impact on their enjoyment and two did not feel it had an

influence. In comparison, the quality of friendships appeared to have more

impact. Three students claimed that friendship quality influenced their enjoyment

at university and only one student felt it made no difference to their time there.

Overall, the students stated that the friendships had no impact on their decision

to withdraw from university, with only one student claiming that it had a little bit

of an influence on their decision.

Discussion

The small sample size means that it is hard to draw meaningful conclusions.

None of the six leavers who responded had been involved in BUSU community

and volunteering activities. It is, of course, tempting to suggest that participating

in such activities may have made an impact on these students, but not

necessarily. The research raises some interesting questions. Half the sample

group were aware of the BUSU activities, but chose not to participate. What

prevented these students from doing so? Could anything be done to have helped

them take the first step and would it have made any difference to their decision to

leave anyway?

All the respondents had been able to make at least one friend and didn’t see the

lack of a larger friendship circle was a problem. However, homesickness and

loneliness are alluded to in their answers. Clearly, no one wants to admit that


they haven’t made enough friends, so that may explain the slight inconsistency

here.

Whilst many said that they had not made the friendships that they had wanted to,

this did not mean that they were alone. For some it meant that the quality of the

friendships they had made had not met their expectations. For example, making

close friendships was for them, more important than accumulating a large

quantity of friends. The majority of students indicated that they found the

experience of making friends easy which supports the suggestion that friendship

making was not a huge factor in causing the participating students to leave.


Strand B

Programmes with Better than

Peer Rates of Retention


Nursing courses within the School of Health and

Social Care

Introduction

During the project’s initial development stage, staff within the School of Health

and Social Care (HSC) approached the Bournemouth team to explore issues of

retention in two BSc/Adv Dip Nursing (Adult) programmes taught at

geographically distinct locations. Whilst, at that stage, the methodology had not

been fully developed for the programme audit process, it was felt that this would

make a useful pilot study and could support the development of the process in

future years.

The programmes were taught at the Bournemouth University Lansdowne campus

(116 students) and at the University College Yeovil (UCY) (34 students). The

approach had been made because students taught at UCY had a higher rate of

retention than their Lansdowne peers and it was felt important to explore reasons

why this might be the case.

Methodology

Qualitative methods were used to explore the first year experience of students on

both courses, including a questionnaire completed by students and semi-

structured interviews with staff. Students were also invited to reflect privately on

their feelings about self-managed learning.

The questionnaire was carried out with students at Bournemouth and Yeovil

during their Personal and Academic Development (PAD) sessions during

November and December 2008 (a learning to learn unit within their programme).

The questionnaire explored the students’ feelings prior to coming to university,

their expectations of support in higher education and an evaluation of the support

they actually received in their first term. Students were asked if they had

considered leaving university at any point during their first few weeks on the

course and, if they had experienced doubts, what had persuaded them to stay.

Students were given the opportunity to share things that they found ‘strange’

about university life and were also asked about their personal expectations of

becoming a nurse.


To gain staff perspectives on the first year experience of students, semi-

structured audio-recorded interviews were conducted with a total of 8 lecturers

from Bournemouth and Yeovil in June and July 2009. The lecturers were invited to

discuss their views on the importance of support for students prior to university

and during their first few weeks of term. They were also able to consider their role

in communicating expectations to first year students and helping the students

engage with information at the start of the course. To conclude the interviews, the

lecturers were asked for their advice to senior management for improving

retention and engagement.

The staff sample consisted of eight lecturers who taught on the BSc/Adv dip

Nursing (Adults) programme at both locations – five at Bournemouth and three at

Yeovil. Five of the lecturers were female and three were male. All of the

participants were lecturers, including three programme leaders6. Seven of the

participants were also personal tutors. Experience in the personal tutor role varied

between those who had been a personal tutor for many years and those who were

new to the role. One of the participants with dual lecturer/personal tutor

responsibility had experience of being a personal tutor with the Open University,

one had a psychology background as opposed to nursing, and another lecturer

was also coordinator for admissions. These differences in background were

valuable in adding a different perspective to the interviews.

All students and staff participated in the study on a voluntary basis and ethical

approval for the project was gained via the lead institution for the HERE Project at

Nottingham Trent University. All data were kept confidential and names and other

identifying information removed for anonymity. At the start of each interview the

participant was referred to the participant information sheet and asked to confirm

that they were happy to take part in the interview and happy for the interview to

be recorded.

Qualitative data from the student questionnaires, personal reflections and staff

interviews were analysed for key themes. Thematic analysis was conducted by

three researchers in the project team and subsequently compared to increase

validity.

Student Surveys

6 The Lansdowne based course has two intakes (September & January); there is a programme leader for both intakes.


The following represents initial findings from the student surveys. At this stage

the results are not differentiated by campus. The students were questioned in the

following 11 areas:

1. What were the students excited about before

starting university?

2. What were the students concerned most

about before starting university?

3. What sort of support did the students expect

from the university prior to arriving?

4. What role do the students feel that the

university should play in their student journey

into higher education?

5. What support did the students get from the

university during Freshers week?

6. What support did the students get from the

university during Blocks 1 and 2?

7. What is being a nurse all about for the

students?

8. What were the students’ expectations of

themselves as nursing students?

9. Did any of the students think about leaving

during the first few weeks in the first year

and, if so, what persuaded them to stay?

10.What did the students find ‘strange’ about

university life?

11.Additional comments from the students


Student Responses

1. What were the students excited about before starting university?

The prospect of meeting people and making new friends was the main area of

excitement for the students prior to starting university. They were looking forward

to learning new skills and progressing with their knowledge of nursing, as well as

starting something new and experiencing a new challenge. Individual responses

included:

Excited at fulfilling my dream career

Maturing as a person both personally and professionally

I was excited about getting my uniform

I was looking forward to meeting lots of people and, more than anything,

finding direction in my life. I feel lucky I’ve been able to do something I

really enjoy

The students were also enthusiastic about going on placements, starting their

career and achieving goals.

2. What were the students concerned most about before starting

university?

Interestingly, the most popular concern among students prior to university was

making friends. Whilst they were excited about meeting new people, the students

were concerned about not ‘fitting in’, not knowing anyone and not liking their

housemates. Financial concerns were naturally a worry for many, particularly

those moving away from home. Many students were anxious about managing

their time and coping with the workload, and others were troubled by the fear of

not doing well or not coping with the level of work at university:

I was nervous about this course because I really wanted to enjoy it and I

didn’t want to fail. I wanted to succeed because I really want to be a

nurse

I was concerned about how much information I would be given before

being given an assignment

I was concerned about how much time I would be in lessons and how much

would be self-taught over the course

The students also highlighted concerns about having the ability to write

assignments and not knowing what was expected of them academically. The


students appear determined to succeed and are dedicated to their ambition of

becoming a nurse which increases the pressure on them to not fail.

3. What sort of support did the students expect from the university prior

to arriving?

Most students expected clear instructional information prior to starting university

regarding the practical elements of the first week at university, such as where to

go, timetables, accommodation details and financial information on fees, loans

and bursaries. They expected answers to any questions they had and wanted

information about their course, for example, an introduction to the structure,

content and some background reading. Some expected the support of a personal

tutor or someone assigned to them if they needed help, others expected advice

on practical issues about their placement such as finding out which immunisations

were needed and what shoes they would have to wear.

The majority of the students felt that the support they received prior to starting

university met their expectations and had been very good. Students in particular

spoke highly of support from staff at the university:

My tutor is very approachable. I was pleased by all the other types of

support as well

I got all the information I needed to be in the right place at the right times

which helped

Some students felt satisfied that they knew support was available if needed but had

not yet required support. Where students didn’t feel they received appropriate

support prior to arriving, communication issues appeared to be at the centre of most

problems e.g. students not feeling they received sufficient course information or

finance details, and being given incorrect practical information for the first day

I wanted clear instructions as to where I needed to be and at what time I

needed to be there as I was told to be at Bournemouth but I actually

should have been at UCY it was horrible and after turning up at

Bournemouth at 9am I then had to get to UCY and as I do not drive it was

stressful and expensive I was very late and it was a horrid start to my

course

One student disliked e-mail as a form of communication, finding it a difficult

method for explaining issues, and another student felt that the course information

given seemed to contradict itself.


It is clear that many of the discrepancies over support have arisen as a result of a

mismatch between student expectations of university life and the reality of the

experience, as the following quotes illustrate:

I was expecting it to be like school

I didn’t think I’d be left to just do everything with so little support. We have

to find out what work we need to do on our own

Sometimes I miss deadlines cause I don’t know about the work because we

haven’t been instructed or it’s not made clear what we have to do

It was a learning curve to do most of the work on my own

These responses highlight the gap between students’ expectations of school and

university. It demonstrates why some students may have felt they did not receive

the support they expected prior to starting university and emphasises the need

for clear and consistent explanations of the differences between school and

university.

4. What role do the students feel that the university should play in their

student journey into higher education?

The students expected the university to play a supportive role in their journey,

providing advice, guidance, understanding and encouragement. Students also

believed that the university should help them to gain the relevant knowledge

needed to become a good nurse, again linking to the students’ desire for success:

I feel the university should play a role of teaching me all I need to know to

be the best nurse I can and to be there to support me on my journey

Provide me with the information or direct me in the right direction to

obtain the information for my knowledge to grow

The students felt that the university should help to ensure that they experience a

smooth transition into HE and that they should be introduced to standards slowly

and efficiently. The provision of good, clear communication was important, with

expectations that all aspects of learning should be explained concisely and

thoroughly.

Whilst the students indicated that support was a crucial role of the university,

some were not averse to independent learning and did not expect to be ‘spoon

fed’:


I think most learning should be done independently and the university

should be there to make sure you are on the right track and there if you

need any help or have any worries

Help us how to manage our time and workload effectively – offer

seminars/one-to-one sessions

As well as providing academic support, the students wanted tutors to be there for

emotional support if needed. They also felt that the university should provide

more social opportunities and group activities. One student, for example,

commented that the university should:

Encourage social team building exercises with class mates as it makes you

feel less alone

Increasing group activities would help to settle the students’ concerns about not

knowing anyone at the start of term and assist the settling in period.

5. What support did the students get from the university during

Freshers week?

During Freshers week the students received lots of information on their course,

university life, who to go to for advice and expectations of themselves as students

in higher education. In terms of practical support, the students were given tours of

their campus and introduced to library and IT support. The overall consensus,

however, was that too much information was given too quickly during the week

and the students found it hard to take everything in. Freshers week was classed

as ‘overwhelming’, ‘confusing’ and a ‘baptism of fire’:

We had a lot to take on during this week. It’s almost a blur now we’ve

started the course and have taken on so much information

Everyone felt bamboozled

Felt that we were given a lot of information all at once and it was difficult

to take on board. Maybe Fresher fortnight would be better!

In addition to receiving a wealth of information during Freshers week, the

students also received support from their peers, tutors and administrative staff.

Some participants felt that Freshers week for them was all about getting to know

each other and being encouraged to interact with other students. This reflects the

opinion of some of the staff interviewed for the study.


A small number of students didn’t believe they received much support at all

during Freshers week or claimed that they did not need any. This may relate to

participants’ interpretation of the question and whether for them, support meant

needing to ask for help as opposed to receiving information and guidance that

week. One student felt there was no support for satellite institutions during

Freshers week. This may be associated with the differences between student

social activities at the campuses in Yeovil and Bournemouth.

6. What support did the students get from the university during Blocks 1

and 2?

Tutor support featured highly as a key source of support during Blocks 1 and 2.

One student at Yeovil felt that there was much better support during this period

than they received during Freshers week. In contrast, a student at Bournemouth

felt they had received more information during Freshers and had just been ‘left to

get on with it’ during Blocks 1 and 2. Students received support in relation to

assignment guidance, expectations of independent study, information about

placements and had their questions answered.

Whilst the students highlighted that they had received help with MyBu, there was

a strong message that they found the system ‘confusing’:

Other than our personal tutor, I don’t feel the uni made any good attempt

at supporting us. Although I realise HE is more independent, I feel as

though the uni has dropped us in the deep end. MyBU is not useful or

easy to learn from

Other students felt that MyBU was useful once they knew how to use it but agreed

that it could have been clearer. The feeling of being dropped in at the deep end

continues to highlight the difficulties experienced by first year students during the

transition phase and tutor support is evidently regarded highly.

7. What is being a nurse all about for the students?

Caring, helping, supporting and were all words that the students associated with

being a nurse. As well as defining the need to be professional, knowledgeable,

constantly learning and able to work well as part of a team, the students also

highlighted personal qualities that they felt were essential for being a nurse, such

as the ability to listen to patients, show understanding and respecting patients’

privacy and dignity:


To be a good nurse I believe you should be well-informed, honest,

empathetic and have a passion for your role

It is also about making people feel safe and happy during a stressful and

vulnerable experience

Many of the students felt it was important to take a holistic approach as a nurse

and use their skills to address the physical, psychological, emotional and social

aspects of patient care.

For others, being a nurse was all about the passion of doing something they

enjoyed and making a difference to the lives of others in their role. They felt

proud of the responsibility they would have as a nurse:

I like how patients put their trust into you. I feel good after a day’s work

I can’t really explain but I know when I’m not nursing I feel a big part of me

is missing. It’s an opportunity to give something back and a privilege to

be such help and support to people

To feel I am giving back to the community. I want to be able to look back

over my life and feel that I have given something, to make a difference

for the better. I want people to see that I care by my actions whether they

be big or small

In addition to wanting to improve patients’ health and make them feel

comfortable and at ease, some students acknowledged that they wanted to

empower patients with knowledge to make their own decisions about their care.

8. What were the students’ expectations of themselves as nursing

students?

The most common expectation of the students was to gain nursing knowledge

and develop their skills for practice so that they could become a good nurse and

provide quality care. The responses gave a balance between academic

expectations of themselves as students as well as the perception of their nursing

role in placement, emphasising the dual identity of student nurses. The students

were determined to work to the best of their ability and held high expectations of

themselves. They were generally dedicated to passing their course and doing

well:

I will take this opportunity as once in a lifetime and will try and work my

hardest to achieve


Achieving good grades was an important expectation of the students and provides

an interesting comparison to the lecturers’ vision of student success which

focused more on individual growth and development of the students as nurses.

Many expected the experience to be a learning curve and wanted to increase

their confidence in practice. They wanted to learn from every opportunity, to ask

questions and to take all advice and instruction when given. They intended to

learn from mistakes encountered and not let it deter them from becoming a

successful nurse:

Being able to recognise my strengths and weaknesses, achieving

academically good grades and making the most out of the opportunity I

have been given. I feel like a blank canvas with the ability to grow both

personally and academically

As student nurses they expected to be punctual, caring, to listen, be hardworking,

professional and approachable. They also expected to take responsibility for their

actions.

9. Did any of the students think about leaving during the first few weeks

in the first year and, if so, what persuaded them to stay?

Out of the 150 students who completed the questionnaire, 32 students (21%) had

considered leaving during the first few weeks of their course. Five students had

considered leaving from the programme in Yeovil (14%) and 27 at Bournemouth

(23%). Some of those that had not considered leaving in the first weeks still

commented that they worried about whether they’d be able to cope or manage

their time.

The most common reason that persuaded students to stay was their passion for

wanting to become a nurse. The sheer determination of wanting to fulfil their

career and lifelong ambition helped them to persevere:

I came here to be a nurse and I am going to achieve my dream. I know

there will be ups and downs along the way

I want to be a nurse. I feel that this is the only career I want to pursue

which made me stay. I know once I get on with the course it will get

better for me


Students commented that they had remained at university to prove they could do

it, to better themselves and because they did not want to disappoint themselves.

These feelings reflect the high expectations and pressure the students may have

placed on themselves to succeed as nurses.

Support from other people was a factor in persuading some of the students to

stay, including friends, family, personal tutors and lecturers. This kind of support

also caused one student to feel like they’d be letting down people who tried to

help them if they left university. Another student had struggled with balancing

their student and family life and experienced guilt in leaving her children while at

university. For this particular student, things improved once they were in a better

routine and guilt was overcome as a result. One student’s faith helped them to

stay as they felt they were here for a reason.

Many of the doubters felt that they hadn’t given university a chance and

expressed that it was difficult to tell whether they would enjoy the experience

from the first couple weeks. They also believed things would improve once their

placements had begun. For this reason, they continued with their studies. Other

influencing factors included not wanting to have regrets, not wanting to waste

time and effort by giving up and being unsure of what else they would do.

10. What did the students find ‘strange’ about university life?

The concept of independent learning was considered strange by the majority of

students who found the expectation of self directed work a complete contrast to

their school or college educational experience. Taking responsibility for their self

managed learning was new to most:

It’s a shock to come into an education environment where nearly

everything is self taught. It’s extremely difficult to get to grips with

Students believed they had been ‘spoon-fed’ in the past and been given more

taught guidance on assignments which may account for their difficulty in

adjusting to independent study in higher education. The amount of time dedicated

to self managed learning at university was consequently considered strange by

the students:

How much free time I have. It took me a while to learn to use this time

efficiently


Students were surprised at the level of free time they had at university and found

that self-discipline and self-motivation were required. The flexibility surrounding

when the students had to attend university was again very different to the more

rigid structure of school life.

As may be expected, there were also practical elements of going to university

that some students found strange, particularly if this was their first time away

from home. Food shopping, a lack of money and coping away from home were all

factors associated with the first year experience of university life:

Living alone is very strange, doing things independently had made me

mature as I am able to make my own decisions that will help me with my

career

Being without my family as they are normally always there to help me be

organised

In some respects, the independence of living away from home was viewed as a

positive experience, allowing students to develop in maturity and ‘grow up’.

Others, however, highlighted the bizarreness of having to live with people that

they may not necessarily get on with.

A theme in relation to identity also emerged as an aspect the students found

strange. It appeared that some students were struggling with different identities,

whether relating to their role as a student, family member or employee. For

example, the following student was preoccupied with the characteristics

associated with a 'stereotypical' student identity:

I hate being called a ‘student’. I have a flat, a job and other things like that

and hate the stigma attached to students

This emphasises how students arrive at university with different backgrounds,

expectations and personal responsibilities. In contrast, another student seemed

disappointed at not being able to fulfill the student identity, feeling that they were

missing out on student life due to family commitments and living far away. The

nursing identity was only referred to in a physical context by one student who

claimed that the uniform trousers were strange as they were ‘unable to bend

when wearing them!’

Age likewise had an impact on how the students identified themselves. Several

students found being a mature student at university strange. Those that

considered themselves older felt that a lot of university life was geared towards


younger students. Having a mixture of age groups in a class was a new

experience for most.

11. Additional comments from the students

A strong message from the students at Yeovil was that they felt segregated from

Bournemouth University. Students claimed that they missed out on the social

aspect of university life by being located at Yeovil and suggested that more sports

and social clubs should be organised for satellite institutions. A student at

Bournemouth requested better support for mature students but it was not

specified whether this related to learning support or social opportunities.

With regard to the content and structure of the adult nursing programme, some

students criticised that there was too much self managed learning time and that

the number of lectures should be increased. Students indicated that they would

like lecturers to explain things thoroughly and not rush through the content of

their lectures. Some students did not see the benefit of including the PAD unit on

the nursing curriculum and there was a request for a greater understanding of the

tutor and mentor role. It was also suggested that students should be advised to

have worked as a Health Care Assistant before starting the course and that

opportunities to learn abroad should be included as part of their practice hours.


Staff Interviews

As was the case with the student interviews, the results have been merged in this

initial report. The Bournemouth team will be working on separating staff

comments about attitudes in the 2009-10 academic year. Staff were asked for

their opinions about the following questions:

1. How important do the lecturers think tutor contact

with students is during the month or so prior to

starting at university?

2. What mechanisms did the lecturers feel were in place

to ensure the ‘seamless’ support of their students?

3. Do the lecturers think that students need transition

support?

4. What do the lecturers think is the right level and right

amount of information that needs to be given to

students about their course and about the university

prior to arriving?

5. What do the lecturers think is about the right level and

right amount of information that needs to be given to

students during Freshers’ week?

6. What do the lecturers do to encourage students to

engage with this information?

7. What did the lecturers think a typical Freshers week

looked like to the student?

8. What do the lecturers feel is the best way to facilitate

engagement of students in their personal and

academic development?

9. How do the lecturers communicate academic

expectations to students?

10. How did the lecturers perceive that first year students

make sense of feedback to assessed work?

11. How did the lecturers define student success?

12. What do the lecturers feel enhances the early

experiences of students at university?


1. How important do the lecturers think tutor contact with students is

during the month or so prior to starting at university?

Overall, the majority of lecturers interviewed thought that contact with students

prior to the start of university was a good idea and would be useful. Most

recognised the potential of prior contact with a personal tutor, considering it

valuable for increasing a sense of belonging for the students and creating

familiarity for them before their arrival:

In an ideal world yes it would because I think if you can start that initial

contact and a student's actually got a name or a voice that they can sort of

relate to I think that could be quite useful because it gives the student the

feeling that there’s actually somebody at the university who already knows

them or who’s got some idea of what they’re like

Whilst the lecturers believed prior contact with their first year students would be

beneficial, it was acknowledged that resourcing this support would be

problematic. The process would place additional demands on the personal tutor

role, taking up more of their time and increasing their workload. One personal

tutor stated that they were not always aware in advance of which students would

be in their tutor group and conflict with the university vision was also highlighted

as a potential issue, with one lecturer claiming

“I’m not sure the university would value the time”

Despite the practical obstacles identified for prior contact, all of the lecturers felt

the personal tutor role was highly important. Some lecturers considered that the

tutor role comes into effect from day one in Freshers week and was not applicable

prior to university. They considered Freshers to be the time when most support is

needed by the students:

I do think that’s important because…it’s not that you want to create

dependency but it’s just to meet their esteem needs, their affiliation

needs. That needs to be right from the beginning so in some ways the

content’s not so important

The personal tutor role was emphasised as being ‘pivotal’ for student support at

this stage and it was recognised that the tutors should provide both pastoral and

academic support, ‘especially for young students who’ve moved out and are

finding their feet’.


One lecturer struggled with the concept of ‘mothering’ students and ‘over-

nurturing’, instead viewing the tutor role as more of a facilitator. Ask BU was

referenced as a useful resource to direct students to for support. One lecturer

associated prior contact with students as a role for the administrative staff of the

nursing programme and felt tutors could deal with more specific enquiries if

needed. Another suggested using a form of prior contact used by the Open

University whereby personal tutors send a letter to students in advance to

introduce themselves and explain the personal tutor role. This lecturer felt that

the letter provided a personal touch which was important for easing students’

anxieties and making them feel included before they start.

The lecturers also commended the Stepping Stones 2HE programme on MyBU as

a useful method of contact with students prior to university. The presentation

activity for nurses on Stepping Stones was considered ‘really invaluable’ for

engaging the students and the interaction helped to increase their sense of

belonging. The lecturers found the ‘About You’ questionnaire on Stepping Stones

useful for finding out about their students in advance, although one personal tutor

admitted they had not followed up responses to the questionnaire.

2. What mechanisms did the lecturers feel were in place to ensure the

‘seamless’ support of their students?

The lecturers listed a variety of support mechanisms that they felt worked well for

their students. In their roles as personal tutors they ensured that students knew

what was expected of them, provided encouragement and reassurance,

highlighted opportunities available and believed it was important to act as role

models for their students. The role of admin was deemed essential in contributing

to seamless support and there was recognition of the need for personal tutors to

invest time in getting to know the students, putting them at the centre of things.

AskBU and the Students' Union were also highlighted as consistent sources of

support when tutors were unavailable.

Good communication was at the heart of seamless support for the students. The

lecturers acknowledged that without efficient communication between support

services, students, lecturers and personal tutors, the ‘seamless service can fall

down’. Even good communication with uniform providers was stated as necessary

to ease students’ anxieties surrounding the arrival of their uniforms. It was also

highlighted that seamless support is, to a certain extent, dependent on students

being proactive.

The programme team at Yeovil felt they were able to provide seamless support to

their students because they were a smaller team. Collaboration of a smaller team


enabled the lecturers to have more direct involvement with the students in

workshops and even enabled them to arrange meetings with the University Link

Coordinators to identify students at risk of struggling on the programme. The

team approach at Yeovil ensures that students are not solely reliant on their

personal tutor. If their personal tutor is absent, other tutors are likely to know the

students well enough to offer guidance instead. Peer support was considered

invaluable at Yeovil due to the small group size and helped to spread the support

network for students, enhancing the seamlessness.

It was considered that the first few weeks were overwhelming for the students

and one lecturer in particular related this to their own experience of being a new

member of staff based at Bournemouth. The lecturer could empathise with the

students’ perspective and did not think the support systems in place were

transparent or connected enough to understand:

I’m new so if I’m struggling with systems and trying to find information and

for me it’s fragmented, then it must be doubly difficult for students

In contrast to the support provided at Yeovil, this lecturer found the support

systems at Bournemouth unclear and not seamless, highlighting the need to raise

awareness and understanding among staff of the support available to students.

Communication is again highlighted as essential.

One lecturer felt that the university offered everything in terms of support for a

positive student experience, their only criticism being the tendency of some tutors

to over-nurture students. Likewise, another lecturer claimed ‘we don’t become

their parent or friend’ in the personal tutor role. Knowing when to refer students

on to other support services was important. This reflects the need for a distinction

of the personal tutor role and expectations of support that accompany that role:

I was trying to deliver PAD and help them adjust to MyBU so it was an

awful lot. I think the boundaries got blurred between my tutor role and PAD

I think they [students] expect, I think there’s an expectation from personal

tutors that they are this all powerful oracle that knows stuff and

unfortunately we don’t we don’t know stuff we can’t know everything, in my

experience of working here, things change week by week by week you

know, policies change very quickly and what you thought might be current

policy is now changed to be something different


Both quotes above imply that greater clarification of the personal tutor role is

required for students and lecturers.

3. Do the lecturers think that students need transition support?

The lecturers agreed that there was much purpose to the support of students

during transition to higher education and that support was necessary during this

period. It was noted that for many students, university is different to previous

educational experiences and the transition period provided an opportunity to

resolve any misconceptions students had about university life. The lecturers also

believed that clear expectations should be set from the start so that students do

not become frustrated and disengaged:

It’s just like any life transition. It can be quite stressful it’s a brilliant

opportunity to grow not just as a person but as a professional, but it’s not

always that easy and people often are hesitant to make the leap or, if

things don’t go right, can easily withdraw. So I think it’s important to have

support through transition

A need for both academic and pastoral support was recognised and emphasis was

placed on developing students’ self esteem and self efficacy during transition.

One lecturer had heard a student say ‘I don’t feel I belong’ which indicates the

importance students place on fitting in and being accepted by their peers.

Freshers week was considered a good mechanism for enhancing this sense of

belonging.

Whilst it was of common opinion that personal tutors should support students

during transition, it was evident that the majority were in favour of a facilitative

role during this period. Emphasis was placed on empowering students during

transition as opposed to spoon feeding or over-nurturing:

Just like you empower your patients when you are in practice you need to

empower the students. So yes, you need to give them help initially but it is

about also telling them where they can find help

It is a support role but a professional kind of mentoring in the ancient

Greek kind of sense

Personal tutors used their role during transition to encourage, reassure and

increase students’ confidence. Creating a safe environment for failure and

success was imperative.


Self managed learning was classed as a further area requiring support during

transition. The lecturers found that students struggle with the philosophy of self

managed learning and are unsure of the expectations, for example, knowing how

to use their study time. The Yeovil lecturing team dedicated a seminar to self

managed learning to address the difficulties yet in Bournemouth, the subject was

integrated into the course lectures. Support for academic writing in higher

education and IT skills were other aspects identified as needing transition support.

One lecturer also felt strongly that the importance of the professional registration

for nursing should be reiterated during transition as some students ‘don’t

appreciate the seriousness of what they’re doing’.

4. What do the lecturers think is the right level and right amount of

information that needs to be given to students about their course and

about the university prior to arriving?

To avoid bombarding students at the start of term, the lecturers felt that certain

information could be sent in advance to students. It was recommended that

information should be broken down into smaller, more manageable ‘chunks’ for

students, providing more functional information prior to arriving (such as

timetables, basic course details) that can be built on during Freshers week. Some

felt that the nursing interviews could be used to identify vulnerable students in

advance and to signpost them to study skills support before the start of

university. Others believed that Stepping Stones 2HE could be used more

effectively, perhaps by giving students access as soon as they have accepted a

place at the university. This in theory would allow students more time to absorb

information at their own pace. Information prior to arriving was also linked to

student retention:

I think there is scope for engaging with them at an earlier stage and I think

that might have more impact on them staying

Whilst most shared similar views on the level and amount of information that

should be given to students prior to arrival, lecturers at Yeovil placed more focus

on Freshers week. One lecturer at Bournemouth expressed the perspective that

‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and proposed an ‘opt in and opt out’ approach to

information giving prior to university, claiming that some students ‘do want as

much information as possible to sort of get ahead of the game and others won’t

want that’. Achieving the right balance of prior information was, therefore, a

difficult task.


Further suggestions for advance information included the course handbook, the

data stick of information (usually distributed during Freshers), initial lecture and

seminar notes, a list of key reading texts and frequently asked questions and

answers. The creation of student groups on Facebook prior to arriving at

university was considered appropriate by one lecturer, highlighting the impact of

social networking as a communication method.

5. What do the lecturers think is about the right level and right amount

of information that needs to be given to students during Freshers week?

In line with the students’ perspective of Freshers week, the majority of lecturers

considered the experience as ‘full on’ and overwhelming for students. MyBU was

viewed as ‘mesmerizing’ and the tendency to overload students with information

was regarded as having a negative impact. One lecturer linked this to the

cognitive ability of the students:

They don’t have those processes to enable them to filter out what is

important, what isn’t important, so they either forget everything or get so

worried that they need to know everything that they become these

ineffectual people

As well as coping with a deluge of information, it was also recognised that

excitement can act as a barrier:

I think there’s such a level of excitement in that first month that they just

completely don’t take it on board

Extending Freshers week was one suggestion to give students more time to

absorb information. This would allow more time for settling in and ensure that

students were then more focused on their course.

Most felt that information should be spread out at a reasonable pace, picking out

relevant information and revisiting details that the students had received in

advance. With regard to the level of information given, the lecturers believed that

overviews were more productive and enhanced by repetition:

Information isn’t successful if it’s just given once so I suppose it’s giving an

overall view and as the year progresses you’re doing gentle reminders

highlighting particular things


One example given was the data stick distributed to students during Freshers

week. Content on the data stick is not necessarily explored by the students in the

first week but tutors are able to direct them to the resource when needed. This

also emphasised the facilitator role of personal tutors.

As opposed to focusing on information delivery, the lecturers believed that the

most important aim of Freshers week was friendship development and building

self-esteem. Personal tutors concentrated on making students feel safe and

secure and highlighted acceptance and ‘fitting in’ as being vital to students. One

lecturer explained that they spend the first two days of Freshers week bonding

with their tutor group to aid affiliation for the students, yet not encourage

dependency. The social side, such as getting to know each other, the university

culture and the kind of tutoring support they’d received, took priority and was

followed later in the week with a focus on expectations in the first year, an

introduction to support services, the library and IT. Peer support was considered

valuable.

6. What do the lecturers do to encourage students to engage with this

information?

Numerous individual methods were adopted by the lecturers to engage students.

The use of discussion forums, seminars to demonstrate the use of MyBU, skills

development and library sessions all aimed to help students make sense of the

information given to them. Tutors found it more productive to provide small,

realistic ‘chunks’ of information and an overview of the year to avoid overloading

the students. More practical approaches included colour coding the timetable for

students and producing a DVD for students as a modified version of the data stick

that was regarded as more user-friendly. Being a role model to the students and

using assessment to engage the students was also discussed, and getting the

students to work in different groups and not always with the same people was

suggested as a useful way of engaging large, diverse groups.

At Yeovil, the lecturing team ensured that input was purposeful for students

during the transition period by making strong links to practice. They find that

students seem to engage more if they know it will help them in their career to be

a nurse:

I’m saying to them look these are the skills you’re going to need to reach

year 2 so we’ve started talking about critical analysis being evaluative

being reflective and they actually seem to be engaging a bit better now


Contextualising information in relation to practice, therefore, was successful for

motivating first year students. Group support was also encouraged, with students

helping each other access information. The benefits of small cohorts at Yeovil

were also reflected on by a lecturer at Bournemouth who had a small tutor group.

The smaller group allowed students to engage in IT skills development sessions in

a more practical and positive way. More time could be dedicated to individual

technical problems the students were experiencing, such as logging on to the

system.

Many lecturers expressed that it was the responsibility of individual tutors to

engage students with the information. The Tannenberg Schmidt model of

mentoring was recommended by one lecturer (this emphasises the need for more

input and encouragement at the beginning), with students becoming more

independent as they progress through the programme. Whilst most agreed that it

was important to generate independence, this naturally led to further debate

surrounding the ‘over-nurturing’ of students.

Some personal tutors have got a very hands off approach and others may

be too much of a hands on approach, you know, that they do mother the

students too much although you could argue that for the first couple of

months that’s what they need

Achieving a balance of support appeared to be a challenge. Tutors did not want to

spoon feed students but they also did not want students to struggle alone. The

facilitative role of personal tutors emerged as the most suitable alternative:

It is our responsibility to check that they have access to support and

information which would benefit their growth as students

The only person that can really cater for their individuality is the student

themselves so they have to learn to look after their own needs and you

have to learn to support them. You know you can’t take it over

Effective facilitation skills were required by the tutor and the ability to know the

boundaries of their support. Providing that tutors are fully aware of the support

services available to students and can direct them to information, most felt that

students should be encouraged to make sense of information for themselves.

Reassuring students and creating a safe non-threatening environment were

thought to enhance this process.


7. What did the lecturers think a typical Freshers week looked like to the

student?

Confusing, daunting, ‘full on’ and a time for partying were words that the lecturers

associated with Freshers week in the eyes of the students. They implied that

students were overloaded with information and some discover at this point that

their expectations of university are different to reality. The emotional impact can

be intense:

They find it a rush of emotions…they wonder how they are ever going to

get through the three years

Total confusion…students can start to become disillusioned

The lecturers claimed that Freshers week should look exciting but there needs to

be clear direction in relation to the logistics of the week and who students can

contact if they have a problem. Again, it was suggested that Freshers week should

be extended ‘to allow them that nice easy transition’ and help avoid information

overload. The need to prioritise information and processes was emphasised:

Helping them to get to know each other is far more important than telling

them how to be thrown off the course in the first day which has happened

in the past where we’ve had programmes that have talked about these…

rules of professional conduct which they need to know but not right at the

beginning, that can be developed

This reflects the opinion of tutors who feel more time should be directed towards

friendship formation. Whilst the students may feel overwhelmed and daunted, it

was acknowledged that the drive to be a good nurse keeps them going. This view

is supported by the majority of nursing student doubters who persevered with the

course due to career ambitions.

The lecturers considered that Freshers week could be impersonal for some

students who may feel they are ‘just a face in a group’ and ‘not seen as

individual’. For this reason, many placed more value on the students establishing

themselves in their tutor group and forming a group identity early on as opposed

to overloading with information in the first instance:

They need to feel accepted and safe first then they need a little bit of

practical information, then they can take on the rest of it…I think

sometimes there’s a tension there…I think Freshers week, if we could

develop it in terms of support, it’s more about helping them feel safe first


Acceptance by their peer group was deemed important. Student interaction and

the importance of making friends was accentuated, and the use of social

networking sites to encourage group development, support and the exchange of

information was utilised by students.

Whilst most lecturers agreed that Freshers week was confusing for the students, a

tutor at Yeovil believed Freshers week worked well, with information staged

effectively. This contrasts to students’ views of Freshers week at Yeovil. It was

perceived that parity between Freshers week at Bournemouth and Yeovil had

improved. However, interestingly students at Lansdowne campus at

Bournemouth still felt isolated from the freshers events taking place at Talbot

Campus:

I think they have much more fun over at Talbot Campus and I’ve always

believed that the school of nursing should be at the Talbot Campus to

allow our students to actively engage with other students there from other

schools

In agreement with the students’ opinion, some lecturers felt there was a lack of

opportunity to engage in social events when based at Lansdowne campus. It

reduced the opportunity for student interaction with peers at a broader level.

8. What do the lecturers feel is the best way to facilitate engagement of

students in their personal and academic development?

There was mixed opinion surrounding the benefits of embedding personal and

academic development within the curriculum. Some lecturers expressed that

integrating graduate skills into nursing programme units was valuable in letting

students see that ‘learning skills’ are integral to all the work that they will do. One

tutor, for example, facilitates discussions in their group when academic study

issues arise and gives the students space and time to talk. In contrast, others

found that separate study skills sessions were more beneficial for students,

focusing in depth on specific graduate competencies such as self managed

learning, essay writing and referencing.

It was recognised that a range of methods were required for effectively engaging

students with their personal and academic development, including small group

activities (which also increased a sense of belonging for the students),

appropriate challenges, face-to-face taught sessions, personal tutorials and online

support. Good communication between lecturers and tutors was regarded as


having a significant impact, as well as providing positive feedback to students. A

clear message was that one size doesn’t fit all:

It’s about being able to use a range of skills to get students to engage

Not all students come with the same size, the same abilities, and they all

recognise their abilities at different times so just front loading something,

or just expecting online materials is not enough

It was highlighted that different learning styles and approaches are needed for

different students, at different points in time. One lecturer believed that support

was often first needed by students when they receive their first assignment back

as they are more receptive at that point.

Different levels of staff commitment had an effect on how students were

encouraged to engage with personal and academic development. As some

students found the development of graduate competencies overwhelming by not

understanding the expectations or relevance, most staff felt it was important to

explain the rationale for personal and academic development. They believed it

was necessary to give clear guidelines and explain the learning outcomes which

helped to contextualise the skills for the students. As inferred earlier, students

may engage more if they know that the skills they are acquiring have purpose for

their future career.

The impact of placements on student development and changing attitudes was

likewise acknowledged as improving students’ maturity and sense of

responsibility in the first year:

I’m beginning to see them developing and changing and calming down

Another lecturer, however, did not feel that students were academically mature

enough to engage in personal and academic development in the first year

strongly believing that such development takes place in the second or third year

and admitted often saying to first year students not to worry about their marks,

‘just as long as you pass’. This draws attention to some fundamental differences

in values amongst staff.

The recurrent theme of the personal tutor role was identified as necessary for

engaging students in their personal and academic development. Personal tutors

were able to aid the development of positive group relationships and use their

knowledge of the wider nursing programme to help the students make sense of

information and support the transition to study in higher education. The personal


tutors also felt it was their responsibility to identify students who were struggling

with their learning and picking the right time to direct them to further support.

9. How do the lecturers communicate academic expectations to

students?

The lecturers aimed to set academic expectations very early on to clarify

assumptions made by the students and clearly define behavioural expectations.

One of the main areas requiring particular focus was expectations of independent

learning:

I feel very strongly it’s about helping them understand their independent

learning as well cos very often that’s the biggest thing we offer them in

higher education. This opportunity, this freedom to learn for themselves, to

be more effective but they often don’t know how to do it. So again, this

idea of saying you know actually 70% of what you’ll learn you’ll learn

yourself

Ways of communicating expectations included the use of gentle prompts and

challenges (such as setting small goals to push the students and build their

confidence), addressing academic and practical assignment guidance during

personal tutor group sessions, tutors role modelling graduate skills and a study

skills session on the transition to higher education. It was felt that expectations

should be reviewed periodically, both when academic expectations are being met

and when they are not, and also revisited in the second and third year.

The most challenging element for lecturers was balancing expectations of

freedom with learning the rules. For example, when setting ground rules for the

group the lecturers were aware of the need to treat the students as adults and not

dictate the expectations:

I’d be reluctant to give them a list of "this is the behaviour we expect of

you" because I don’t think that’s treating them like adults but I think it

would be nice to give them a list of perhaps what they should aspire to so

you know, accessing the library, accessing their e-mails and sell it as a

positive rather than a punitive list

The tutors wanted to maintain a sense of student responsibility and independence

when communicating academic expectations which would enhance the students’

development in the first year. The role of the personal tutor was regarded as


important for supporting students’ understanding of academic expectations but it

was also recognised that students should develop personal responsibility:

How they conduct themselves is their own responsibility but it is our

responsibility to check that they have access to support and information

which would benefit their growth as students

In terms of the best time to communicate expectations, one lecturer at

Bournemouth preferred to address expectations in the first week of teaching as

opposed to Freshers week. This avoided information overload for the students

during Freshers week and kept the focus on getting to know each other.

10. How did the lecturers perceive that first year students make sense of

feedback to assessed work?

Whilst the lecturers acknowledged that some students find feedback valuable and

use it to improve their work, there was opinion that some students only focus on

the mark they receive for assessed work and do not engage with feedback. One

lecturer commented that they had rarely seen students improve their work as a

result of feedback. When contemplating the reasons why a student may not

engage with feedback on assessed work, difficulty understanding the academic

language was raised as an issue:

It becomes difficult to try and get people to start thinking analytically if

we’re just using these big words that they don’t understand….I think that’s

the problem that they face…because we’re writing stuff in our own

academic talk you know to appease ourselves really I think

This highlights the crucial role of the lecturer or personal tutor in the feedback

process. A further issue identified in defence of lecturers was time constraints. It

was claimed that ‘group size doesn’t allow you the time to write constructive

feedback’ which indicates the impact of staff workloads on the quality of feedback

to students. Both issues emphasise the need to accompany feedback with

dialogue from the tutor, a communication method encouraged by the majority of

lecturers when giving students feedback.

It was considered part of the personal tutor role to ‘enable students to engage

effectively’ with feedback. The tutor was again seen as a facilitator and

responsible for referring students to learning support in their feedback if required.

Communication was considered vital in assisting students to make sense of

feedback and most encouraged students to discuss their feedback with them


whether they had received good or bad results. It was felt that all students should

be encouraged to learn from feedback and improve their work and that positive

feedback would encourage and motivate students in future assessment. One

lecturer believed that feedback had more of an impact when students entered

their second year, when low marks tended to prompt them to seek skills support.

Reflection on the learning process involved in feedback was a focus for one tutor

at Bournemouth. Encouragement of students to reflect on the learning process

itself was regarded highly, exploring questions such as how did the student

approach their learning? What new learning can they take from it? What could

they have done to improve the situation? Similarly, another lecturer believed that

students need to be taught how to engage with feedback and encouraged them to

pick out three points from their assessed work to improve next time. Publicising

study skills sessions was also considered useful and it was acknowledged that

students must also take responsibility for engaging with their feedback.

Most lecturers favour different processes of engaging their students in feedback.

In Yeovil, however, a team approach to feedback was evident. It was implied that

the lecturing team use the same structure and content of feedback, providing

more detail than the standard university form, but develop their own methods of

translating the feedback to students. More links to practice were all associated in

the feedback provided to student at Yeovil. One lecturer asserted that it was

essential that students were able to write well and learnt from feedback as they

would need to be able to write clear records as a professional nurse without

errors.

11. How did the lecturers define student success?

Definitions of student success ranged from students reaching their potential and

completing the first year, to developing increased confidence and maturity and

developing competent, safe, knowledgeable practitioners. Student success was

rarely associated with the marks students achieved and it was acknowledged that

success was very individual and related more to personal goals:

I would define it as students reaching their potential…students feeling

satisfied and perhaps delighted by their performance…knowing you’ve

worked really hard for something and actually it’s paid off. I think that the

boost you get from that sort of feeling is really incredible. It can motivate

you forward…to do even better pieces of work so the mark doesn’t have to

be high but I think the student needs to feel that their hard work has paid

off


Whilst the lecturers related student success to satisfaction with personal

performance, many felt that students tend to relate success to the achievement

of high marks. Receiving good marks increased the self esteem of students. In

contrast, one lecturer was disappointed that some students only aim for a pass

mark of 40% in the first year and do not want to achieve higher. This view

contradicted the same lecturer’s attitude reflected in response to a previous

question that marks don’t matter in the first year – to pass is the main focus.

Student success was defined as personal, academic and professional growth,

irrespective of their starting point. It was emphasised that success was not just

the end product:

It’s not all about the ultimate end assessment, it’s about what they glean

and do along the way

Students were recognised as being successful for overcoming hurdles in the

course and coping with life challenges alongside their studies. This strength and

self reliance was admired by the tutors:

I can’t predict every personal professional problem they will face in life but

if they can cope then we’ve been successful…it won’t stop them being hurt

or it won’t stop disappointment but builds resilience and hardiness

Success was linked to the development of social responsibility and the ability for

nursing students to see things differently. The personal tutor’s role was

considered to be one of encouragement and providing direction. One tutor felt

their role had been to sow the seeds for the students to act on.

Discussion of success highlighted a tension between the academic side of the

nursing programme and practice. It was indicated that for some students, gaining

the professional nursing qualification was more important than gaining the

academic qualification. It was regarded as the role of the personal tutor to help

address any academic or professional imbalance of skills:

It’s encouraging students to see their strengths which might be more

academic or it might be more practical but to really work on the areas

where perhaps they are not quite so successful so they’re a bit more of a

rounded professional nurse at the end


Doing well in the workplace and influencing change during practice was an

indicator of student success for the lecturers. The students were likened to

‘shining stars’ when their practice profiles reflected good work and high standards

of nursing on the wards. Successful students were considered to be those who

were passionately determined to become a nurse and achieving that goal despite

doubting their abilities to succeed.

The only controversial view of student success was related to a personal opinion

that students studying for the nursing degree had got more to work towards than

those studying the advanced diploma. They felt the advanced diploma did not

have as much credence in comparison to the degree and the value of success was

therefore different.

12. What do the lecturers feel enhances the early experiences of

students at university?

The role of the personal tutor, peer support and creating a sense of belonging

were considered essential factors for enhancing the early experiences of students

at university. Developing support networks was perceived to be vital:

I think it’s very quickly slotting into some student network so it’s making

friends and support early on and I think connecting with their personal

tutor is very, very important so I’d probably say those two factors are the

most important

Much value was placed on friendship formation and building group identity. It was

acknowledged that the students can each offer something different to their group

and they experience the journey together. One lecturer reflected that their tutor

group was ‘like a little family’, emphasising the impact of peer support, and

another tutor claimed that group identity helped the students carry each other

through practice issues.

The role of the personal tutor was thought to enhance early experiences by

encouraging independence and directing students to support if required. Some

believed it was the responsibility of personal tutors to help students achieve a

balance between the social side of university life and study and give them the

confidence to take on new experiences. Clear communication of expectations was

regarded as necessary:


They find it all a bit of a mystery to start with they’re not quite sure what’s

expected of them so I think they do need to feel supported they

need to know who they can go and talk to their contacts

I’d have said consistency from the academic staff is important for student

stability. The students are actually in that very early stage in quite a fragile

state and if things start to fall apart around them, and that can be things

like timetable changes, room changes, all of those sorts of things it can be

very, very unsettling

The lecturers recognised that unsettling experiences have an impact on retention

and has caused students to leave in the past. To avoid such results, they

expressed that the student experience is enhanced early on by good structure,

support, putting things into context for students and highlighting expectations.

Whilst one lecturer stated ‘I’m not sure it’s anything we do’, most believed it was

their role as a facilitator of support which was most effective and being

approachable as students settle into university life.

The diversity of tutor groups was considered to have both a positive and negative

effect on students. With different levels of maturity, personalities and experience

present in cohorts, the lecturers felt that group dynamics could prove challenging

and that students tended to form friendships with those of a similar age and

background. Most lecturers were in favour of balanced group composition but

indicated that it required good structuring to work well:

I sometimes find that at the beginning is not to allow the group to go into

little cliques but to actually split the group up as I want them to split and

work together and hopefully that gets the group working in a more

cohesive way

More evenly balanced groups were perceived as useful for friendship formation

and produce less risk of social isolation for students from minority groups. The

role of student representatives was also recognised as important for giving

students a voice and power as a group.

In addition to explaining academic expectations to students, it was felt that

students needed to experience university life in order to increase their

understanding. The lecturers suggested that students can only prepare

themselves to a certain extent prior to university:

Its when they get going and they actually start experiencing some of, then

it begins to slot into place


It’s like anything isn’t it. Until you experience it, you know you’re not

totally sure what it’s going to be like

Another physical impact thought to enhance the experience was location. The

lecturers at Yeovil believed a small team makes a huge difference to students’

first year experience and has an impact on relationships within the group - there

were ‘less opportunities for closeness’ at Bournemouth. However, whilst this had

advantages in terms of support, reference was again made to students at Yeovil

feeling left out of the mass student social experience at Talbot Campus.

13. What advice would the lecturers give to senior university

management for improving retention and engagement?

Key areas of advice were raised in connection with the improvement of retention

and engagement:

increased communication between lecturers and senior management,

greater links between staff and student placements,

more contact time with students and

smaller group sizes

extending Freshers week,

supporting the transition to year 2 earlier by changing year one unit level

descriptors to meet the requirements needed for year 2,

and the introduction of a 4 year nursing course to provide a further year of

learning for students.

Some lecturers felt that senior management did not provide enough visible

engagement at a curriculum planning level. They wanted to see more

involvement of management at planning meetings and increased communication

between lecturers and managers. More focus on attrition rates was advised:

We’re obviously producing a new curriculum for October and I’ve been

very disappointed in the engagement of any of the managers and I’ve

been very surprised that they haven’t prioritized the new curriculum over

anything else…things like student support and particularly attrition is

never ever mentioned at any planning meetings and I would have thought

that would have been…we know attrition rates to be high and it seems to

have absolutely no impact on what we are doing at all

Addressing student support issues and fixing attrition rate problems were

recommended as a focus for senior management. The lecturers wanted the


reasons for student withdrawal from the course to be explored to raise awareness

of the issues.

It was also suggested that the student selection process may have an impact on

retention, with some students being accepted onto the nursing programme with

incorrect entry qualifications. This could subsequently cause students to struggle

or fail.

It was felt that stronger links should be made between personal tutors and the

practice placements, for example, visiting students on placement to increase

involvement and understanding of their progress. Although believed to be

beneficial for bridging the gap between lecturing and practice for the personal

tutors, time constraints were acknowledged to be a practical difficulty:

I know it’s all time and we haven’t got a lot of time but if we were faces

that were known to placements we could perhaps build links we might

then know more about the student experience as well and what they are

actually doing in placement…It is a huge commitment but it might help

overall the student experience and the students would also know that we

know exactly what’s going on in placement whereas now we listen to what

they say and try and get a balanced view of what they are saying

Improving communication between university link coordinators, personal tutors

and placement mentors was an alternative suggestion to face-to-face visits.

Reflecting the students’ expectations of spending more time in university, some

lecturers agreed that contact time with students should be increased. It was felt

that being able to see students more regularly would enable lecturers to get to

know their students better and help engage students more effectively in the

processes of coming to university and becoming a nurse. One lecturer reflected

that teaching had recently become overshadowed by a focus on research and

enterprise at the university and an emphasis on teaching needed to be restored

by increasing the number of days students attend lectures:

If we don’t have students we’re not going to be doing research or

enterprise because there won’t be a university so the students really are

central and across the university students are being frustrated

Investment in teaching was recommended for improving retention but also

highlighted a tension in relation to university policy, with one tutor commenting

‘the university says you should only do this much’.


Most lecturers valued the idea of smaller student group to help create a sense of

belonging for students. Although it was acknowledged that this would be

resource intensive initially, it was believed that the investment would improve the

engagement of students and have other positive outcomes. Whilst small groups

were perceived to be useful for building student confidence, lecturers also felt

that students needed to have the ability to adapt to other learning contexts, for

example, participating in large lectures.

It was felt by one lecturer that more understanding of the role of identity was

needed as it can be problematic for some students trying to engage in the

process of ‘being’ a student and ‘being’ a nurse.


Conclusions

Please identify any specific findings or insights that contribute to the grants

programme meta-analysis questions to inform learning for the wider sector:

Strand A

Student Doubters

Are doubters actually more likely to become leavers than non-doubters?

At this stage we can’t say. However, there are very strong differences between

the satisfaction of doubters and non-doubters at both institutions we have sorted

the data. The focus groups also suggest that there may be common factors that

differentiate between the two groups, with doubters being less feeling less

engaged with the university community and far less likely to feel that they are

coping with their studies.

Are there any factors amongst doubters that appear to be stronger

predictors for withdrawing? (For example do doubters who leave have

lower levels of satisfaction with course factors, future goals or friendships?)

Course-related issues are by far the most likely to make students consider

withdrawing. This makes sense, students may enjoy the social life, but ultimately

are present at university for a purpose: to achieve a degree and employment.

Other factors such as student lifestyle, finance and homesickness whilst clearly

very important to some students are much less frequently mentioned.

The strongest individual risk factor gathered from the qualitative feedback

appears to be students not finding their subject inherently interesting. So if the

intrinsic value and enjoyment associated with the subject is low or absent,

students are far more likely to have doubts. The second factor is confidence at

coping with studies. The partners’ work on transition suggests that students that

students are coming from an environment in which they are well supported, it

may be that more can be done to support students to feel that they are coping. It

is interesting to note that those students aiming for lower first year and final

degree classifications are more likely to have doubts. The next highest risk factor

is that students who do not feel that their lecturers are accessible and this

reinforces our suspicions about the second.


Demographic factors don’t appear to be a strong predictor, although it’s

interesting that at both Bournemouth and NTU, female students are more likely to

have considered withdrawing. Given that males are ultimately more likely to

withdraw, we may have some interesting comments to make later in the project

about the nature of male/ female withdrawal from university.

Amongst doubters who stay, what factors helped them remain at

university? What were the most important issues and how can institutions

make use of these findings?

The most important factor that helped students stay at university is related to the

support offered by friends and family. Of these two factors, it is friends made at

university, the new surrogate family that is most important. We would suggest

that this means institutions need to dedicate more time creating social

environments that enable students to support one another. This may be

facilitated through curriculum design, institutional approaches to induction and

design of the campus.

The qualitative data from the focus groups suggested that the feeling of

belonging was important and having a good relationship with a member of

academic staff (all non doubters felt that they belonged, all had good

relationships with at least one member of staff). However there does need to be

caution here as all the students here weren’t representative of the student

population as a whole (i.e. more mature/female).

In the Bournemouth University nursing programme surveys, the future goals,

particularly around vocation, appeared to have the strongest impact on the

commitment to stay.

Strand B

Programmes with better than peer rates of retention

Have we uncovered any practices that appear to have a positive impact on

retention?

Although the findings gathered at Bournemouth are interesting, at this stage it’s

too early to draw any conclusions about the positive impact of particular

practices.


Overall conclusions

Our research suggests that if we are to improve retention, we need to work on

two areas. Firstly to reduce the impact of those factors that make students

consider leaving in the first place and secondly to augment those factors that

appear to have a positive impact on doubters (and we hypothesise) leavers. It

appears clear that the two are not simply opposites. We will work on developing

models to help staff think about the issues.

Although only tentative, we believe that we have uncovered something

interesting about students’ perceptions of learning and teaching with regards to

retention, namely that it appears to be a hygiene factor rather than a motivator.

We will explore this further.

3.1 How can the learning experience be managed to promote student success?

The most common reasons cited in the pilot study for withdrawing and in the

transitions survey for considering withdrawal were course related. Students’

dissatisfaction appears focussed on the experience of studying. Other factors

such as lifestyle, finance and homesickness clearly all played a part, but it was

dissatisfaction with the course that appeared to have the strongest impact. This

leads us to tentatively suggest that professional and support services have a

lower impact on decisions about doubting. That is not to say that they don’t have

an important role for students considering leaving or actively choosing to do so,

but that the source of dissatisfaction and possible early solutions is likely to be

within the curriculum.

We would therefore suggest that energy is concentrated on supporting students

within the curriculum, particularly in areas such as understanding the differences

and building confidence that they can cope with the learning experience.

Those (albeit few) students who felt they had received inaccurate information

about their university were much more likely to have doubts.


3.2 How can institutions and partnerships (e.g. Aimhigher) ensure that students

are sufficiently prepared to make the transition into HE?

Those students in the transitions survey who felt that they didn’t understand the

difference between learning at University and their previous studies were

significantly more likely to have considered leaving than those who did not. It

would appear therefore important that students are primed before coming to

university to explore the differences between the two and are helped to adapt to

learning and teaching in HE. However discussion with the Flying Start NTF project

leads us to believe that pre-entry workshops can be problematical, particularly

when issues such as academic writing are taught to students who find it confusing

to try and synthesise two approaches to writing at the same time. It may

therefore be more appropriate to concentrate on expectations in a more general

learning sense or even models and approaches to study.

We do feel that there is much work to be done to support a greater awareness-

raising of issues surrounding approaches to learning in HE whilst students are still

in FE. We would tentatively suggest that staff working in both sectors ought to be

given greater opportunities for dialogue between the two sectors and will report

on findings from a shadowing project being conducted at NTU (2009-10).

3.3 How can the curriculum be designed and delivered to promote the success of

all students?

Although not yet confirmed by data on leavers, we appear to have found an

interesting issue. Poor learning and teaching appears to lead to active

dissatisfaction, but good learning and teaching does not appear been a

particularly important factor with regards to making students want to stay. Where

students describe the positive impact of learning and teaching, it is in the context

of support from institutional staff or adapting to the learning and teaching in HE

with only a few stating that they have started to enjoy university. For most

students it would appear that good learning and teaching is a hygiene factor: its

absence is a de-motivator, but as its presence is expected as a minimum and

therefore does not, in itself, motivate.

There are three areas in which we would suggest action needs to be taken to

develop the curriculum:


Firstly, given the importance of friendships for retention, we would strongly

suggest that the curriculum is designed to maximise opportunities to make

friends during induction and throughout the first year. This is likely to mean

plenty of small group work and more opportunities for discussion. It is likely to

mean putting more staff resources into the first year rather than later years.

The second area is to work on helping students understand the differences

between learning in the two sectors. We would suggest that this needs to go

beyond simple explanation during induction, but is comprised of smaller

interconnected tasks in the first term to practice the different academic skills

before tackling longer assignments. Clearly at some point (probably the first

year) support will need to be gradually withdrawn. Given the consistently poor

scores about feedback in the NSS, this may also mean more emphasis on

providing formative feedback and developing the skills to learn from it and

helping students to develop better self-reflection skills. It may also be appropriate

to for programme teams to have a clearer dialogue amongst themselves about

expectations upon students at each level and how they will support student

transition into the later levels of study.

Thirdly, given the impact on not finding the subject interesting, it seems that

making the subject interesting is extremely important for student motivation.

Clearly no lecturer would disagree with the statement, and ‘interest’ is likely to be

a highly subjective experience. Nonetheless it may be worth reiterating strongly

within staff development events.

3.4 How can formal and informal extra-curricular activities support students and

promote their engagement in higher education?

Informal social support has appeared as an extremely important factor in our

research. As the number one reason amongst first years to consider remaining,

clearly the role of friends formed at university is vital. Although the NTU focus

groups following the transition survey met only a few students, there appeared to

be a difference in approach between doubters and non-doubters towards the

social milieu. The word ‘doubter’ appeared to have an interesting relationship

with the word ‘joiner’. Non-doubters appeared to be largely joiners: they joined

clubs and societies and gained value from doing so. The doubters tended to be

non-joiners, they were largely from demographics who tend not to join (mature

students and international students), but nonetheless the difference was

noticeable. The surveys with leavers at Bournemouth suggest that the leavers


had a similar experience to the doubters with regards to joining; whilst they had

developed friendships, they had not been joiners.

Our suggestions would be that institutions consider ways of improving the social

milieu for these groups. Given the additional potential difficulties engaging in

extra-curricular activities for mature, local and international students, this may be

best facilitated by activities within the curriculum (see above).

3.5 How can the structures and processes of the English higher education system

be improved to facilitate institutions to promote the retention and success of

all students?

At this stage it feels to early to say other than to re-emphasise the importance of

informal friendships and learning to cope with the transition from FE to HE.

4. Dissemination of learning

Please provide details of how you have disseminated the learning from your

project this year. We are interested in dissemination activities which are

action focused as well as information sharing. This may, for example, involve

stimulating dialogue in your institution to encourage the development of

improved policy and practice, as well as more traditional forms of

dissemination. It would be appropriate to consider dissemination within the

project, across the participating institutions and to others in the sector and

beyond. Please provide the following information:


Event Audience Objectives Focus Format Reflections

25/02/2009

Fourth Annual Student

Retention Conference -Neil

Stewart Associates

Academics &

HE Managers

Inform about HERE Project Introduction Discussion

02/04/2009 NTU Annual

Learning and Teaching

Conference

Academics,

learning

developers &

managers

Present research as part

of workshop on student

transition

Transition Workshop Staff highly

interested in

research

06/04/2009 - 7/04/2009

ALDinHE conference

Bournemouth

Academics,

learning

developers &

managers

Explain research HERE Project

work

Poster presentation

24/04/2009 UK National

Transition Conference:

research and good practice

in promoting student

engagement in the first

year

University College London

Academics,

learning

developers &

managers

Present information about

Stepping Stones 2HE

Stepping Stones

2HE, some

mention of HERE

Workshop

13/05/2009 -

15/05/2009European First

Academics,

learning

Presented workshops on Induction & Workshops Generated interest


Year Experience

Conference (EFYE)

Groningen, Netherlands

developers &

managers

induction & transition transition in our work

18/06/09 AimHigher West

Yorkshire

Academics,

learning

developers,

aimhigher

staff &

managers

Presented two workshops

& keynote about transition

and retention

Transition &

retention

Workshops &

presentations

Lots of interest

30/06/2009 - 2/07/2009

HEA Academy Conference

Manchester

Academics,

learning

developers &

managers

Participated in workshop

promoting whole project

HERE project Workshop

22nd International First

Year Experience

Conference, Montreal,

Academics,

learning

developers &

managers

Support Me! Develop

Me! Retain Me! How a

Reflective Skills Activity

has Increased Student

Engagement, Motivation

and Success.

Develop Me Workshop


4. Next stage4.1. Approach to future work (including an overview of planned work and

identifying any significant variations from earlier plans).

See Appendix two for revised work schedule.

Essentially we anticipate that we will work broadly to the original schedule.

Strand a – Student Doubters

We will conduct a more-detailed analysis of the student doubters’ survey work

making use of actual student withdrawals data. We are unlikely to do much

additional research other than follow up a limited number of students who have

withdrawn or who have raised interesting points in their surveys. We will monitor

those students who have given us permission to look at their student records to

see if factors such as doubting have an impact on the subsequent attainment in

later years. The data from the Bradford survey is only partially complete and so

will need to be completed during the year.

Strand b – Programmes

The main focus for the year will be conducting the programme audits at each

partner institution. We are slightly behind schedule analysing programmes. At

this stage, we believe that we will be able to get back on schedule during the

2009-10 academic year; although there is a potential anxiety that the detailed

programme work may be highly complex and potentially time consuming.

4.2. How is this informed by a) progress to date and b) findings to date

As described earlier in the report, we found setting up strand b to be a more

complex process than expected. The direction has not yet been influenced by

findings as we are waiting for the end of the academic year to confirm progression

rates from the first year into the second. Once the data is available, we will

review all our data and assumptions and revise our strategy accordingly.

4.3. Dissemination ideas or plans for 2009-10. Please include any dates of

events etc to be included in the Calendar.


The project team are involved to a significant event in the following dissemination

events:

Student Writing in Transition Symposium

Nottingham Trent University 15/09/2009

Internal staff development conference, our work will be presented at one of the

seminars and as a key theme

Retention Summit

Bournemouth University 23/09/2009

Research Seminar Series 2009: Access and Success for All

Learning from the Data: Using institutional data to develop an audit tool

to enhance student success

Bradford University 15/10/2009

Learnhigher end of CETL conference & LDHEN Symposium

NTU 30 March – 1 April 2010

In addition, we intend to present at a selection of relevant conferences, probably

including the European First Year Experience, May 2010.

4.4. Support required next year. Please identify any ways in which the Support

and Co-ordination Team can assist your work next year.

We would be grateful for significant inputs into the methodology discussions

5. OutcomesWhat do you feel are the most significant outcomes of this year’s work? What do

you feel others can learn from your experiences this year?


The main project outcome is that we now have a large body of data about the first

student experience at University and those factors associated with doubting. In

October – December 2009, we will add the data about actual student withdrawal

and be able to map whether or not student doubters are more likely to withdraw,

or if there are any key factors more relevant to leavers.

Therefore the project is well underway, but we feel that we can only make

tentative claims about doubting in HE.

The main lessons that we will transfer to future projects are about project

management. We will need to dedicate more time to project initiation, rather

than just moving into the research stage.

We are currently working on the methodology for a large scale cross institutional

project, at present we feel that we need more work on methodology.


Appendix A

Student Transition Survey


The HERE Project 2009


On the email put…

NTU has been asked to conduct academic research to better understand the

experience of students starting university. We have been asked to do this

research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) because

we have an excellent reputation in retaining students. This research (the HERE

Project) will be used to improve the experience of future students here at NTU and

at other universities.

Most questions will require a simple click in a box; some will require more open-

ended comments. When we piloted this survey it took an average of five minutes

to complete. All completed questionnaires will be entered for a prize draw to win

£50 of Amazon vouchers

If you choose not to participate in this survey it will not affect your studies in any

way. If you would like to withdraw at any point you are free to do so with no affect

on your studies. If you would like to discuss any issues connected to participation

in the project please contact [email protected].

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this questionnaire and

would like any further information or would like to discuss this with anyone, you

may wish to visit the NTU Student Support Services webpage for further

information or speak to your personal tutor.

The Market Research Team

Nottingham Trent University

February 2009


http://www.ntu.ac.uk/sss/


bout the research

NTU has been asked to conduct academic research to better understand the

experience of students starting university by the Higher Education Funding

Council for England (HEFCE) because we have an excellent reputation in retaining

students. This research (the HERE Project) will be used to improve the experience

of future students here at NTU and at other universities.

What data do we need?

We are interested in your experience here at NTU, in particular, how you are

finding learning here and if you have had doubts about staying on your course. It

would be very helpful for our research if we could also look at your course marks

during your time at university and incorporate these with other research findings.

This will only be done with your permission and we will ask you about this at the

end of this survey.

What will be done with the data?

We take the protection of your identity seriously. The data will be analysed and

anonymised: when we report our findings your answers will not be linked to you

as an individual. Anonymised data and findings may be shared with various staff

members of the university to help identify the ways in which we can improve the

experience of future students here at NTU (for example to develop activities such

as Welcome Week). Anonymised data and findings may also be used in academic

papers and shared with other universities. If you wish to withdraw from the study

at any time please notify either [email protected] or [email protected].

*I agree that my anonymised answers can be used here at NTU, in academic

papers, and shared within the HE sector.

Most questions will require a simple click in a box; some will require more open-

ended comments. All completed questionnaires will be entered for a prize draw to

win £50 of Amazon vouchers.

Thanks for your time.

Q1 Can you tell us your student ID number? We will use this number to

contact you if you win the prize draw. If you choose to withdraw, we will use this




number to trace your answers and delete them from the research. When we

analyse the data we will separate your answers from your ID number.

My ID number is

Q2 How much have you enjoyed your course so far?

Please use a scale of 1-5, where 1= “not at all” and 5= “very

much”

Q3 Before you started your course at NTU, did you read any materials

to help prepare you for your course (e.g. prospectus, course

induction materials)?

Yes Go to Q4

No Go to Q5

Q4 Was the information from NTU before starting your course;

Very accurate

Reasonably accurate

Not very accurate

Very inaccurate

Q5 Please rate the following aspects of your studies, where 1 =

“strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree”, on balance,


My course is well organized





The assessment on my course is what I expected it to be

The feedback I receive about my work is useful

I feel confident that I can cope with my coursework

Q6 Please rate the following aspects of your studies, where 1 =

“strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree”, on balance,



I have easy access to University resources (e.g. computers, library books

that I need)


I would know where to go within the university if I had a problem



I am confident that I will have enough money to complete my course

Completing my degree will help me achieve future goals (eg career)

Q7 Please rate how important the following aspects are to you, where

1 = “not important at all” and 5 = “very important”…


My course is well organized





The assessment on my course is what I expected it to be

The feedback I receive about my work is useful

I feel confident that I can cope with my coursework

Q8 Please rate how important the following aspects are to you, where 1

= “not important at all” and 5 = “very important”…



I have easy access to University resources (e.g. computers, library books

that I need)

I would know where to go within the university if I had a problem



I am confident that I will have enough money to complete my course

Completing my degree will help me achieve future goals (eg career)

Q9 Since coming to university has anyone at NTU explained to you the

difference between learning at university and your prior learning,

particularly learning since age 16 (eg A’ Levels, BTEC)?

Yes

No


Q10 Do you feel that you understand the differences between learning

at university and earlier learning?

Yes, in some detail

Yes, a little

No

Q11 How difficult have you found your studies so far this year?

Please use a scale of 1-5, where 1= “not at all difficult” and 5=

“very difficult”

Q12 How hard have you worked so far this year?

Please use a scale of 1-5, where 1= “not at all hard” and 5= “very

hard”

Q13 In your first year at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), how much

focus are you putting on the following? Please use a scale of 1-5,

where 1 = “no focus at all” and 5 = “a lot of focus”

Family

Friends from home

My academic studies

Part-time work

Social life at university

Volunteering and other community activity

Other

Q14 What grade are you aiming for when you graduate?

70+ (1st)

60-69% (2:1)

50-59% (2:2)

40-49% (3rd)

0-39% (Fail)

Q15 What grade are you aiming for at the end of this academic year?

70+ (equivalent of a 1st)

60-69% (equivalent of a 2:1)

50-59% (equivalent of a 2:2)

40-49% (equivalent of a 3rd)

0-39% (equivalent of a Fail)


Q16 Do you have a personal tutor?

Yes Go to 17

No Go to Q18

Q17 How often do you see your personal tutor?

Weekly

Fortnightly

Monthly

Less often

Q18 Have you considered withdrawing at any point during your first

year at NTU?

Yes, but I have decided to stay at NTU Go to Q19

Yes, and I have decided to leave NTU Go to Q20

Yes, but I haven’t made up my mind about my future plans Go to Q20

No, I have never considered withdrawing Go to Q21

Q19 What has helped you decide to stay on your course?

___________________________________________________________________________

___

Q20 Please tell us what made you consider leaving NTU

____________________________________________________________________________

__

Q21 How do you think the University could improve the academic and

pastoral support for students?

_____________________________________________________________________

Q22 Is there anything that we haven’t asked that you’d like to share

with us?

____________________________________________________________________________

__

Q23 What age are you?


16 - 18

19 - 21

22 - 25

26 - 45

46+

Q24 Are you…?

Male

Female

Q25 At which academic school at are you studying?

Nottingham Business School

Nottingham Law School

School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Science

School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment

School of Art and Design

School of Arts and Humanities

School of Education

School of Science and Technology

School of Social Sciences

Q26 What level are you studying?

Undergraduate (BA/BSc)

Undergraduate (Foundation level)

Further Education

Q27 Which course are you studying?

____________________________________________________________________________

__

Q28 Are you…?

Full-time

Part-time

Distance learner

Q29 What part of the world are you from?

UK Go to Q30

European Union (EU) Go to Q31

Outside European Union Go to Q31


Q30 What part of the country are you from?

Nottingham

Nottinghamshire

East Midlands

Rest of the UK

Q31 At what campus are you based?

City

Clifton

Brackenhurst

None (e.g. distance learner)

Q32 Which type of accommodation do you currently occupy whilst

studying?

NTU / UPP halls of residence

Private halls of residence

Private rented / shared house

Living with relative(s)

Own home

Q33 Please tick the category below that you feel is the most

appropriate classification of yourself.

Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi.

Asian or Asian British - Indian.

Black or Black British - African.

Black or Black British - Caribbean.

Chinese.

Mixed - White and Asian.

Mixed - White and Black African.

Mixed - White and Black Caribbean.

Other Asian background.

Other Black background.

Other Ethnic background.

Other Mixed background.

Other White background.

White - British.

White - Irish.

Other

I do not wish to declare


Q34 Do you consider yourself to have a disability?

No, I have no known disability go to Q36

Yes go to Q35

I do not wish to declare go to Q36

Q35 If yes, please specify

dyslexia

visual impairment

deaf/hard of hearing

mobility or wheelchair user

mental health

autistic spectrum

hidden disability

more than one disability

disability not listed above

I do not wish to specify

Q36 Did you apply to NTU…?

Through the standard UCAS process

Through UCAS at clearing

Q37 Was this your first choice of university?

Yes

No

Q38 Is this your first time living independently?

Yes

No

Q39 Are you the first person in your immediate family (we mean

parents, brothers, sisters) to go to university?

Yes

No

Q40 How could we improve this survey?

______________________________________________________________________________


We would like to conduct further research, for example, focus groups. If

you would like to be invited to take part in further research please tick

the box below.

I agree to be invited by email to take part in further research

___________________________________________________________________________________

The HERE project will run for three years. Do you give permission for

your course marks and enrolment status to be accessed from University

records and incorporated anonymously with other research findings? If

you do, please tick the box below.

I agree to allow my course marks and enrolment status to be accessed from

University records during the time I am registered here and incorporated

anonymously with other research findings. To ensure the protection of your

identity, we will store this information separately from your student ID number.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your feedback. By clicking on the submit button now, we

will enter you into the prize draw to win £50 worth of Amazon vouchers.

If you are a winner we will contact you via your student email. Good

luck!


Final page confirmation (after respondents click submit)

Thank you very much for completing this survey, your responses have been

submitted.

Remember, if you would like to withdraw at any point from this survey you are

free to do so with no affect on your studies. If you would like to discuss any issues

connected to participation in the project please contact [email protected].

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this questionnaire and

would like any further information or would like to discuss this with anyone, you

may wish to visit the NTU Student Support Services webpage for further

information or speak to your personal tutor.

_________________________________________________________________


http://www.ntu.ac.uk/sss/


HERE Project Steering Group & Planning Group Meetings & dissemination routes2009-10 Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May June July

Steering Group

Steering Group 9th Sept (NTU)

SG Bournemouth (proposed 22 June – C Keenan to check availability at B’Mouth)

Planning Group

Planning Group 7

Planning meeting 16 October

21 Jan planning group meeting

Planning Group Meeting (NTU) 1 April

Other Dissemination

Retention Seminar Series Bradford University 15 Oct

20 Jan Retention Grants Programme Planning meeting (London)

LDHEN Conference (NTU) 29-31 March

EYFE Conference (proposed)

HE Academy Conference (proposed)

7 To discuss Bradford Symposium, Progress Brochure, Standard format & process for the programme audits


2009-10 Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May June July

2010-11 SG (prov 1st week)

Planning Meeting

SG Final Meeting

Planning Meeting

Other Dissemination


HERE Project Reports & Outcomes

Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May June July

2009-10

Draft Programme Audit Tool Developed

HEA Interim Report (end of Sept)

Research Outline & Initial findings brochure for HEA Symposium (16 Oct)

Literature Review of material relevant to doubters & programme analysis

Research Report on First Doubters Survey (including leavers data) (all)

Research Report on Programme Audits (all) including development of audit tool


2010-11

2nd HEA interim Report

Research Report on final year Programme Audits (all)

Research report on 2nd Doubters Survey (all)

End of Project Report

NB Does not include academic papers which would be written in accordance with different deadlines


HERE Project Project Work

Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Jan Feb Mar April May June July

2009-10

Student Doubters

Data analysis to confirm destination of student respondents in 2008/09 doubters’ survey

Telephone interviews with withdrawn students who have given permission to follow up (all)

Speak to doubters’ who have continued studies- if time is available, also interview non-doubters (all)

More detailed-analysis of Doubters’ Data set

Write up research for interim report

2009-10Programm

Choose progs

Set up prog

Conduct staff

Conduct

Review Programm


e Audits for audit (all)

interviews & analyse 2ndry data (prog handbooks etc)

interviews & surveys of 3 progs (all)

student interviews and surveys for programme audits (all)

e Audit Tool against research findings

2009-10 Misc Project work

Write interim report

Set up Project website (EF)

Write literature review (EF)


2010-11Student Doubters

Survey students pre-arrival at University

Doubters’ Survey – new cohort of first year students (all) - contains fewer questions & possible

Survey participants in 2009 Doubters’ Survey to review experiences (all)

Track academic performance of original students in the doubters’ survey


personality test

2010-11Programme Audits

Choose 3 progs (all)

Set up prog interviews & 2ndry analysis (all)

Conduct staff interviews (all)

Conduct student interviews – prog audit (All)

2010-11Misc Project work

Outputs stated in original bidStrand 1: Student Doubters

Strand 2: Variable rates of withdrawal across programmes

Review relevant literature, concentrating particularly on US work into persistence

6 large quantitative surveys of all first year undergraduate students (2008-09 & 2010-11), we will use the data to profile students with no doubts, doubters and then compare them with subsequent leavers. In 2010-11, we will also survey students before they arrive at university to test the impact of expectations against subsequent satisfaction and doubts. This data will create benchmarks to contrast with our programme research and influence the design of the audit process.

18 qualitative group sessions using appropriate group methodologies: nominal group technique, Customer Value

Review relevant literature

We will conduct a statistical analysis of differential rates of withdrawals across programmes. We will review data over at least a 3 year period to identify programmes performing consistently well, or demonstrating significant improvements. Literature will be used to identify different risk factors, these findings (along with evidence from doubters) will be used to create a programme retention audit tool.

21 in-depth audits of individual programmes will be conducted, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, e.g. staff & student interviews, student surveys, analysis of timetables, support mechanisms, induction, pre-entry activity, scaffolding


Discovery (McKnight & Berrington, 2008), etc, working with approximately 10 students each time (180 students in total).

Findings will further strengthen institutional policies.

of learning.

Where particular trends are identified, for example the impact of induction activities, further interviews and surveys will be conducted.

We additionally stated that we would produce a website to share resources and set up a special interest group for those interested in the subject

Some of the outcomes have been picked up by the HE Academy’s involvement, particularly the special interest group and, to a certain extent, the literature review


Interim report 2008 9

Education

Transcript of Interim report 2008 9