University of Leicester Early Withdrawal Survey

Student Retention and Success Project Team (Craig Bartle – Research Assistant; Kine Dorum – Research Assistant; Martin Pennington – Project Manager; Professor Annette Cashmore – Director Genie CETL; Paul Jackson – Director, SSDS; Dr. Jon Scott – School of Biological Sciences)

The University of Leicester Early Withdrawal Survey (adapted from a survey designed by the University of East Anglia’s Survey Office) was issued to 1221 students who were recorded as having withdrawn from the University in 2007-8 and 2008-9 before completing their courses. The survey was completed by 113 students (a response rate of 9.3%). The questionnaire has two main sections focussing on students’ reasons for leaving and the advice and guidance they received about leaving while at the University. Some open response questions were included in the questionnaire to give the students the opportunity to highlight issues they considered to be particularly important.

The University of Leicester was the first choice of almost all the students but in many cases their expectations were not met in terms of their relationships with the academic staff and the actual course content. Students often withdrew primarily for personal or medical reasons. Social factors such as friendship groups and housemates appeared more of a concern for undergraduate and first year students than postgraduate and second or third year students.

Personal Details Summary

  • 96% (n=92) of the respondents left their course between the 2006-7 academic year and the 2008-9 academic year. Just under half the respondents (47%, n=92) left in the 2007-8 academic year and a further 37% left during the 2008-9 academic year. Figure 1 shows the time of year the respondents withdrew from the University. A greater proportion of students left in June towards the end of the academic year (19%, n=95) than in any other month of the year although exactly half of the respondents (50%, n=95) left within the first term or before the start of the second.

Figure 1a compares undergraduate and postgraduate students. In both cases the greatest proportion of students left in June (an equal number of undergraduate students also left in October) but between October and January there is a steady monthly decline in the percentage of undergraduate students withdrawing (from 15% to 10%, n=59) whereas the opposite is true of the postgraduate students for whom withdrawals increased on a month by month basis (from 3% to 23%, n=30).

  • The majority of the respondents to the questionnaire were aged over 25 (50%, n=101) and only 17% were aged under 21 when they left the University.
  • Only 31% (n=111) of the respondents to the questionnaire were male.
  • Over a third of the respondents who indicated which subjects they were studying prior to leaving the University (37%, n=92) were enrolled on a course within the College of Social Sciences; exactly a third (33%) were from the College of Arts, Humanities and Law; 15% were from the College of Science and Engineering and another 15% were from the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology.
  • Three quarters of the respondents were on full time courses (75%, n=110) prior to leaving the University with the remaining 25% studying on a part time basis.
  • 82% of the respondents indicated which year of the course they were on when they left and the majority of these (68%, n=93) were in their first year with another quarter of the respondents (24%) in their second year and 8% in their third.
  • Most of the students who replied had been undergraduate students (57%, n=113) but there were a considerable number of postgraduate students on both taught and research courses (21% and 16% respectively)
  • The majority of early leavers were ‘White’ (87%, n=110) but there were a small number of former students who were Indian (5%), Black African (4%) and Black Caribbean (1%). 3% of the respondents ticked ‘Other’.
  • 92% (n=104) of the respondents who indicated their nationality said they considered themselves to be ‘British’.
  • 9% (n=108) of the respondents said they had a disability. Four students indicated this was ‘Dyslexia’ and twowere having treatment for cancer. Other conditions were associated with mental health and arthritis.

Reasons for Withdrawing

The students were asked to indicate their main reasonfor leaving the University(their responses are shown in figure 2). 46% (n=111) of the respondents gave personal or medical as their main reasons for leaving.There was little variation in the proportions of undergraduate and postgraduate students who left for medical reasons. This was also the case when comparing first, second and third year students. There was, however, a greater proportion of postgraduate students citing personal reasons as their main reason for leaving (40%, n=42) compared to undergraduate students (27%, n=62). Similarly a greater proportion of students in the second and third years of their studies cited personal reasons (45%, n=22 and 57%, n=7 respectively).

Almost a quarter of the respondents (23%, n=111) said they left to ‘transfer to another University / education provider’ and the proportion of students transferring was greater for undergraduate students (34%, n=62) and first year students (31%, n=62) than for postgraduate students (12%, n=42), second year students (23%, n=22) and third year students (14%, n=7).

The students were alsoasked the extent to which various factors influenced their decision to withdraw from the University in three broad areas: their preparation for study at the University and their expectations;their academic study at the University; and their personal reasons for leaving. Figures 3, 4 and 5below show the factors from each of these sections and the percentage of students who said each factor had a ‘major influence’, a ‘quite important influence’ or ‘some influence’ over their decision to leave.The most common factors considered to be a major influence were:

  • Choosing the wrong course (28%)
  • Experiencing a period of illness or personal difficulty (19%)
  • Course failing to meet expectations (17%)
  • Poor academic support from their department (16%)
  • Poor feedback about their academic work (15%)
  • Difficulty balancing their academic work with family/personal pressures (14%)
  • Poor personal support from their department (14%)

Some of the reasons given for withdrawing from the University could be attributed to circumstances outside the University’s control such as unexpected illness, pregnancy or paid employment issues but over 1 in 4 (28%) of the students felt that they had chosen the wrong course with a further 17% indicating the course had failed to meet their expectations. Three of these factors(poor academic support from their department, poor feedback about their academic work and poor personal support from their department) were related to the quality of academic support and feedback which would help explain why many students commented on these factors when given the opportunity to do so at the end of the questionnaire (see figure 6).

For all but three of the 28 reasons presented, a greater proportion of undergraduate than postgraduate students indicated that the reasons given had been an influence in their decision to withdraw. The three reasons cited by a greater proportion of postgraduate students as influential were all from the ‘personal’ category, namely balancing part-time work or family and other pressures with study, and their financial situation.

The largest difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students was concerned with the importance of forming relationships with their fellow students. Over half of the undergraduate students (56%, n=63) said that feeling lonely and not being able to make friends influenced their decision to leave; only 7% (n=42) of the postgraduate students gave this as a reason. It is, perhaps, unsurprising therefore that a greater proportion of undergraduate students also indicated that they wanted to be closer to their family or friends(48% of the undergraduate students compared with only 12% of the postgraduate students).

There were also some large differences between undergraduates and postgraduates in relation to their preparation and expectations. For example,60% of the undergraduate students claimed they had chosen the wrong course compared with 19% of the postgraduate students, anda greater proportion of undergraduate (44%) than postgraduate students (10%) felt they were not adequately prepared for university study.

Nearly half of the respondents chose to add one or more comments (49%, n=113) to the questionnaire and figure 6 shows the areasmost frequently referred to. Comments referring to the poor support from tutors and academic staffwere made by the greatest proportionof students.Not all students were critical of the academic support they had received,however, and 15% of the comments were from students who said that they had found the support offered by the University staff had been helpful to them.

‘My experience as a student at the University of Leicester was brilliant. My course was excellent and my tutors (personal and academic) were fantastic. Both the academic and social aspects of life at Leicester were wonderful. My withdrawal was due to a sudden and acute onset of illness only. I was very sad to leave but it was the only option given my serious illness’ (English undergraduate student)

Many of the respondents also commented on their disappointment at the course content, highlighting the perceived discrepancy between how the course was advertised and the reality. More students gave this as an influential factor in their decision to leave the University than any other reason (see figure 3). This may be reflected in the fact that just under a quarter of all the respondents (23%, n=113) indicated that their main reason for leaving the University was to ‘transfer to another University / education provider’.

‘In retrospect I feel I have made the right decision [to withdraw from the University]. I am now studying at a different University and enjoying a course that better reflects what I want to do in the future’(Physics undergraduate student)

Social factors were cited much less frequently. Only 14% (n=113) of the respondents said that their expectations of their social life at the University were not met and, although a third of the respondents (33%, n=113) indicated that not being able to make friends and feeling lonely had been some influence in their decision to leave, only 7% indicated this had been a major influence.

It was frequently a combination of factors that influenced students’ decisions to withdraw:

‘I loved my friends at Leicester. I loved the social life but the feeling I got from the staff there was that they didn’t care about me or my academic achievements. Most people were uninspiring and there seemed to be a lack of passion. The value for money in terms of the education received was poor. I am so glad I didn't hang around at the University even though it was hard to leave my friends’ (Undergraduate student)

From the responses to questions and the comments added by students, the issues that seemed to be important to the early leavers can be categorised into three main areas: course content and organisation;sources of help; and personal circumstances.

Course Content and Organisation

Students highlighted several concerns about their courses which led to theirwithdrawal from the University.

Almost all of the questionnaire respondents indicated that the University of Leicester was their first choice (90%, n=110). Expectations were therefore high among the students when they started their courses but it would seem, in many cases, that these expectations were not met. When asked about their reasons for leaving just over half of the respondents indicated that the course had not met with their expectationsand this had been at least partly influential in their decision to leave. Just under half (45%, n=113) of the respondents also indicated that they felt that they had chosen the wrong course and this had influenced their decision to leave. Some former students commented that they felt misled by the information given to them about the course prior to starting.In their opinion,this was somewhat different from the reality once they had started the course, particularly the level of knowledge they would need to be successful on the course:

‘The course was poorly marketed. It stated that there was a minimal amount of maths and that this would be gone through very slowly but it was rushed and complicated. Many people had previously done maths A level and understood the maths and could apply the economics to it so I was left behind with little help’ (Economics undergraduate student)

‘I was quite clearly unprepared for study on a foundation year in Engineering, this was evident in a matter of days of commencing the course. I believe I was accepted onto the course when I shouldn't have been something I could tell that my tutor agreed with me when I went to discuss withdrawing from study.(Engineering student)

Other students expressed disappointment at the actual course content and the options that were available to them as they progressed through the course:

‘I left for two reasons: 1. Towards the end of the first term I got an email telling us that the advertised course for the following term had been cancelled because the professor would be taking study leave and instead of it we would be getting a course on the Reformation which did not interest me. 2. I thought that I would be able to choose projects that were of interest to me rather than have projects set by the lecturers that were of interest to them’. It was obvious that leaving was the best option… I feel that the department of English Local History had no conception that people paying their own money to undertake an advertised course of study would expect the course provided to be the same as that advertised’ (English Local History taught postgraduatestudent)

Timetabling was also an issue for a couple of students:

Coming in for 1 hour on a Friday meant that I could not work that day to fund my course. Also the course was not helpful with my child at school. Different half terms.(undergraduatestudent)

Several students said they decided to leave because they did not feel they were getting value for money from their course:

‘The teaching time (often consisting of a lecturer reading out his notes) was two hours per week for £1,925 for the year!’ (History of Art and Film taught postgraduatestudent)

Sources of Help

Figure 7 shows the sources of help used by the students for advice on academic study and personal difficulties, or guidance in their decision to leave.

Over two thirds of the students (70%, n=113) consulted their personal tutorsand about half of the respondents turned to family and friends for advice and guidance. There were no major differences between the advice sources used by undergraduate or postgraduate studentsor first, second or third year studentsalthough friends were used as a source of help by a greater proportion of undergraduate students (54%, n=63) than postgraduate students (36%, n=42) and a greater proportion of first year students (57%, n=63) than second year students (27%, n=22). Similarly family was used as a source of help by a far greater proportion of undergraduate students (63%, n=63) than postgraduate students (36%, n=42).

One or more of the University’scentral support serviceswere consulted by just under a quarter of the respondents (23%, n=113). The Student Welfare Service was consulted by the greatest proportion of students (12%) followed by the Counselling Service (9%), the Careers Service (8%), Mental Wellbeing (7%), the Student Learning Centre (5%) and the AccessAbility Centre (4%) witha greater proportion of second year students (23%, n=63) indicating they had consulted the Student Welfare Service than first year students (13%, n=22).

Exactly half of the students who used one or more of the central support services said the advice they had been given had helped them to consider their options. Just under a third of undergraduate students who responded to the survey (29%, n=63) had used the central support services and 56% of these students said they had found the advice received helpful. A smaller proportion of postgraduate students had used the central support services (17%, n=42) although 86% of these students had found the advice received helpful. The responses also seem to indicate that a greater proportion of students consult central support services for advice as they progress from year to year; 24% (n=63) of first year students consulted central support services, rising to 27% (n=22) of second year students and 43% (n=7) of third year students. These percentages should be treated with caution, however, as the number of students who responded falls quite dramatically from one year to the next.

Figure 8 shows the proportion of students who found the most commonly used sources helpful (fewer than 10 students used the additional sources of help). Although 70% of students asked their personal tutor for help,over a third of these students (35%, n=79) indicated that the response they received had not been helpful. Students considered the help and advice given to them by their friends and family as being the most helpful, with94% and 89% respectively of those who had sought support from these sources finding this helpful.

Comments about the students’ relationships with the academic staff were very common in the questionnaire responses; some examples are given below:

‘I feel that university life was very much isolated. I felt that I couldn't gain help or support with my work with a lecturer without using email. I felt that my course was unbelievably impersonal and I found it difficult to speak in person with someone about my work. I feel that email was far too commonly used as a method of communication. When I went to withdraw I was told to speak to my personal tutor. I had no idea who he/she was. We had never been introduced and this was 8 weeks into the course. He had no idea who I was either.’(Psychology undergraduate student)