We use individual-level administrative data to examine the extent and potential explanations for the relatively poorer academic performance of three ethnic minority groups in their first year of study at a New Zealand university. Substantial differences in course completion rates and letter grades are found for Maori, Pasifika, and Asian students…

Not many universities provide both distance and on-campus study options for study. Massey University has been delivering both for more than 50 years. In this time there has been a significant change from paper-based to increasingly online delivery (both on-campus and at a distance). Services provided to students have also changed and adapted to…

Student success, variously understood as engagement, persistence, completion, graduation and entry to employment, has become a central focus for stakeholders in higher education. Theoretical and empirical research exploring these varied conceptions has mushroomed since the 1980s. Much of this literature focuses on what and how higher education…

Open and distance learning (ODL) provides unique challenges for student retention and course completion. In an increasingly competitive educational environment, measures such as retention and completion form the basis for the evaluation of institutional and student performance. Information and Library Studies (ILS) faculty at the Open Polytechnic…

This article outlines a longitudinal pathway analysis of student performance within educational institutions, so as to identify student profiles which describe those groups of students who are more likely to complete or leave a bachelor degree program, and to identify the predictors for these outcomes. The analyses are based on 7314 undergraduate…

This article reports on efforts to investigate and improve retention and graduation rates at a New Zealand polytechnic. A literature review and Tinto's Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure provided the theoretical underpinning for the work. A case study methodology was used, whereby a member of the institute's Academic Quality Unit worked…