1. P a n e l D e b a t e : A n u n c e r t a i n f u t u r e -
T E F, r e t e n t i o n , a n d s t u d e n t s u c c e s s
L e a r n i n g f r o m W h a t w o r k s ? A m o r e
c e r t a i n f u t u r e
Liz Thomas
Liz Thomas Associates Ltd
London, UK | February 2017

2. TEF has increased the stakes for improving student retention and success. But 13
universities have been working to improve student retention and success in 43
discipline areas over the past four years – before the TEF was dreamt up – as part of
the second phase of the What works? Student Retention and Success Programme
(WW-2)

3. # H U E M E A 1 7
And they’ve achieved many positive outcomes – for students and
institutions…
• First year continuation rates improved
• First year attainment levels improved
• Engagement in on-line activities increased
• Increased number of assessments completed
• Increased success at first assessment attempt, reduced
failure rate
• Increased levels of engagement, belonging and confidence
• Increased internal transfers
• Fewer one-to-one tutorials to discuss assessments
• Reduced attainment differentials between black and
minority and white students
• Fewer student complaints
• More satisfied students
• Enhanced employability and positive feedback from
employers
• Greater understanding of the issues impacting on retention
and success
• Improved student data made available and used by staff to
inform their decision-making
• Increased staff capacity to work across the institution and bring
about change
• Greater student voice integrated into work across the
institution, and improved capacity of staff and students to work
together.
• Wider policy developments informed by learning from the
programme
• Effective initiatives rolled out across the institution
• Other discipline teams joining the process of implementing
and researching change to improve student experience and
outcomes
• Pedagogical research outputs
• HEA fellowships awarded

4. The study reinforced the need for
interventions to have an academic purpose.
Purely social or extra-curricular interventions
do not reach many ‘at risk’ students.
The academic relevance needs to be clear to
students – and staff – otherwise engagement
will be low.
Interventions and change must be delivered
through the mainstream curriculum to all
students to maximize impact, consider
timetabling, monitoring and assessment.
1 The power of peer support and interaction
has been reaffirmed. Group tutoring and
peer mentoring had positive outcomes.
Interventions need to be on-going e.g. like
tutoring, or connected into a programme,
starting pre-entry and including early focus
on potential employment outcomes.
Individual student engagement needs to be
monitored and followed up; different
approaches used, but students were broadly
supportive when helping them to be
successful.
2
3
4
5
6
Academic purpose Facilitate collaboration
Explicitly relevant
Mainstream delivery
Engagement monitored and followed up
On-going rather than one off
So, What works?

5. But we know all that…
Most institutions have not yet been able to translate what we know about student
retention into forms of action that have led to substantial gains in student persistence
and graduation. (Professor Vincent Tinto, 2006)

6. Find out which disciplines, courses, modules
and students have lower success rates from
institutional data and use qualitative research
to find out why.
One-size does not fit all, and the interventions
must meet the issues identified if they are
going to improve retention and success.
The institution must be ready for change,
including: leadership support at all levels;
alignment of policies and processes; staff
recognition, development and reward;
provision of data that can be used.
1 A structured approach, with sufficient time, a
cross-institutional team, student engagement
staff engagement, senior management
support and leadership is crucial
Monitoring students at the individual level,
particularly students who have lower levels of
engagement and belonging. Use formative
evaluation of interventions to improve
interventions.
Continuing and embedding effective
interventions; rolling out intervention and
processes to other areas; wider institutional
development (policies, capacities, research).
2
3
4
5
6
Understand the local contexts Design a process of change
Identify evidence-informed
interventions
Review the institutional
context Embed, sustain and enhance
Use monitoring and evaluation
WW-2 examined how to implement change that works

7. Academic staff are crucial, but they needed to be supported and
enabled to do the work. It takes a whole institution to improve student
experiences and outcomes.

8. The What works programmes
have moved understanding,
policy and practice about
retention and success in the UK
to a state of increased maturity.
First generation retention and
success focused on ‘fixing’ the
needs of specific groups of
students through additional
support services to improve
retention.
Second generation retention
and success focused on student
engagement and belonging in
their academic learning context
to improve success.
Third generation retention and
success focuses on the whole
institution working together and
using evidence to understand
the issues and implement
contextually relevant changes
across the whole student
lifecycle and the entire
institution.

9. L e a r n i n g f ro m W W 2 :
A m o re c e r t a i n f u t u re
Liz Thomas
liz@lizthomasassociates.co.uk