Despite 20 years of focus on improving university retention rates, we are still losing one in five of our first-year students.
And the release of a new report by TEQSA again reminds us of the challenges of retention.
The report highlights that, on average, universities have a 20% attrition rate. This builds on an article by The Australian earlier this year which showed that one in three university students failed to complete the course they began within six years of enrolling.
First year challenges
The challenges that first-year university students face in their journey are many: from adjusting to new expectations and environments, lack of university support in assisting with this transition, managing different work-life balance issues, being overwhelmed, and of course, costs.
Many of these issues are particularly significant for first-in-family students who often lack role models or social capital to adjust to expectations and unexpected challenges they confront.
This is not a unique Australian challenge, and is confronting higher education institutes worldwide.
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