Despite the benefits of a PhD for degree-holders as well for society as a whole, doctoral student attrition is a common phenomenon. Unfortunately, the empirical literature on dropout from doctoral education is scant, especially for non-US countries--an omission we address in the current study. Building on Tinto's model of student attrition and…

This synthesis report, based on a survey carried out during 2022 with Cedefop's reporting network ReferNet, aims to provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of early leaving from vocational education and training (ELVET). Such understanding is a necessary precondition for designing effective responses to help individuals to equip…

International students are not only agents for the internationalisation of a campus environment but also a crucial source of income for universities and a country's economy. Thus, their recruitment and retention are vital and prioritised by university leadership and policymakers. However, scant attention has been given to investigating…

Using data from 11 institutions, the authors investigate enrollments in intermediate microeconomics to determine characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students and follow the retake behavior of unsuccessful students. Successful students are significantly different from unsuccessful ones, and unsuccessful students differ by type…

Retention of first-year students was a problem at a private 4-year university in the Southeastern United States. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the reasons entering first-year students who were part of the Promise Program withdrew from the university during their first year. Tinto's model of student attrition provided…

Doctoral student attrition is often referred to as a silent epidemic whereby students tacitly withdraw without ever being given an exit interview or follow-up. While most studies focus on the departing students, few studies focus on the institution's implicit and explicit policies and practices that encourage silence. Drawing upon the "Exit,…

High attrition rates have been a defining characteristic of doctoral education for decades, representing a loss of time, talent, and effort for departing students and their faculty. This qualitative study uses a biomedical science doctoral student sample to collect "real time" data on attrition within the first 2 years of doctoral…

This publication presents completion and attrition rates for apprentices and trainees using three different methodologies: (1) contract completion and attrition rates: based on the outcomes of contracts of training; (2) individual completion rates: based on contract completion rates and adjusted for factors representing average recommencements by…

Over the last few decades, the Netherlands has been experiencing that numerous student teachers (i.e., pre-service teachers) leave teacher training after a short period of time. To address this attrition problem the current study aimed to gain insight into student teachers' motives for enrolling, continuing or withdrawing from a primary teacher…

Two hundred and twenty-six qualitative interviews with students studying at Australia's largest online tertiary education organisation, Open Universities Australia (OUA), found that failure to complete assessments due to unexpected and unavoidable employment commitments was the standout reason for dropping out of its open-access courses. The…

Early withdrawal from higher education (HE) programmes can be detrimental for the students and institutions involved. Quantitative research has often concentrated on demographic and social antecedents (e.g. gender, prior education). Other factors may be more open to intervention e.g. students' academic experiences in HE. Using data from an…

Apprenticeship completion rates have remained persistently low for decades in spite of broad agreement over the causes of non-completions. A possible factor missing from these explanations is climate, particularly in northern Australia where traditional trade apprentices are exposed to extreme conditions and exert themselves. We hypothesize that:…

Using data collected from a recent national survey of Australian first-year students, this paper defines and validates four scales--belonging, feeling supported, intellectual engagement and workload stress--to measure the student experience of university. These scales provide insights into the university experience for both groups and individual…

Previous studies have examined patterns of withdrawal from initial teacher education (ITE) programs and have found that pre-service teachers are more likely to withdraw if they are male or older than the typical pre-service teacher. This study presents case studies based on semi-structured interviews with older male pre-service teachers who…

Despite institutional strategies to prevent student withdrawal, attrition remains a concern across higher education sectors in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. In the case of Australian universities, attrition rates have remained consistently high since 2002. Some level of attrition is inevitable, but universities can influence…