The Retention of Students in Higher Education Research Paper

The Retention of Students in Higher Education - Research Paper Example In such a context it is imperative that providers and students understand the factors which can help or hinder student success, so that time and energy are not wasted on negative outcomes and experiences. An important way of measuring student (and by implication also provider) success is to examine retention rates and explore reasons why some courses are, by this measure at least, more successful than others. This method has the advantage of being quantitative in terms of providing the raw data for the study, and qualitative in terms of exploring the underlying reasons for trends in this data. Criminal justice programmes are among the most popular choices for undergraduate students and they are offered in a wide range of public and private college and university settings. Popularity has its disadvantages, however, in that larger numbers of students can mean more pressure on resources, lower retention rates, and considerable wastage in the system. The purpose of this empirical study is first to gather data on the range of criminal justice programmes available in the UK and to analyze rates of retention on a comparative basis. This will establish a quantitative basis for further examination of underlying trends in this area and will highlight any variations that emerge. This factual information will be obtained from Funding Council records, department Chairs, and publicly available information from university and other websites and databases. The gathering of data alone provides only part of the picture, namely what is actually happening in terms of student retention on Crim inal Justice Courses in the UK.