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Coordinated effort by the skills and training sector is needed to improve vocational education and training (VET) completion rates. This report identifies three key themes for the sector to focus on: understanding and responding to the purpose for study, improving the VET system and delivery, and supporting learners most at-risk of non-completion. The report considers the system and learner factors known to negatively impact completion rates. It identifies systemic mechanisms and enablers to improve completion rates and learner outcomes, particularly where learner and employer expectations do not align with the current VET system, and highlights opportunities to provide tailored advice and supports for those facing barriers to completion. The report also provides 17 recommendations for consideration by Skills and Workforce Ministers, presenting a range of systemic and learner-focused approaches that could be applied across Australia to improve completion rates.

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The Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) was commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Adult Education to undertake a study to scope the need, reach and areas for policy and practice development for adult education concerning disadvantaged adults. This evidence-based inquiry gathered the views of key stakeholders, partners and providers on their top priorities for adult learning in 2016 and over the next five to 10 years. Methodologically the research consisted of: a literature review; an online survey for adults; telephone interviews with leading senior policy makers; Town Hall meetings; and fieldwork visits in differing regions in England.

The focus of the research was on a wide range of adult learners who may be out of work, in work, transitioning between roles and those who are older learners. This involved analysing both quantitative and qualitative findings that fed into the APPG answering the following research questions: How can a greater priority be given to adults' views to support demand-led provision? What practices and models of learning best motivate non-traditional students to keep on going with their studies while other from a similar background drop out? What is already known about the added value, cost-effectiveness and impact of adult education? What policy development is needed to secure the future of adult learning? Overall, the research aims to contribute to an understanding of what motivates (and demotivates) adult learners and what can be done to increase participation and attainment levels.

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The paper deals with an empirical question in the under-researched area of student retention in higher education in Northern Ireland; specifically, it explores the barriers to learning and programme completion that full-time higher education students encountered in a specific dual sector further and higher education college in Northern Ireland from the perspective of 19 withdrawn students. Data was gathered with the support of interpretive paradigm and analyzed with the grounded theory method of data analysis. On the basis of this analysis, barriers to learning were identified to illustrate students non-completion of studies within the case institution and, in doing so, the theories of hot knowledge, capitals and habitus were explored, modified and added to in the context of this study. However, these barriers in isolation did not lead students to withdraw, it is only when barriers combined that the desire to withdraw was outweighed by the decision to complete. This subject area of student retention is poorly investigated in an environment which has a long history of conflict, with a legacy of high unemployment and significant poverty. This study will form the foundation blocks and commence a body of knowledge on student non-completion in dual sector further and higher education institutions in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, this study adds to both national and international knowledge on the barriers to completion which students encounter as members of a dual sector educational system.

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This study addresses the retention problems of at-risk students in the Foundation Year Program at the Bahrain Teachers' College. Data were collected from the instructors and the students using questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings show that both instructors and students think the college could play a more active role to increase the readiness of the students for undergraduate work in teacher education. They indicate that major areas where students need instructional support include the language arts (Arabic and English language), maths, science, and the skills for group work and oral presentations. However, students and instructors had opposing viewpoints regarding the expected level of support provided by the instructors as well as the level of assessment and its alignment with course content. Taking the students' and the instructors' views into consideration, the researchers conclude the study with a recommendation for the restructuring of the foundation year curriculum to align with the needs of the students and for the inclusion of regular and relevant professional development for instructors. The significance of this study is that it serves as a microcosm for the challenges faced by in-coming students in other teacher training programs in the Arabian Gulf region.

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It is common knowledge that students, staff and government are all embroiled in a struggle to transform South Africa's institutions of higher education, and that these struggles are simultaneously historical and contemporary, practical and ideological. Set in universities, the focus of this study asked: Who succeeds, who does not? And is therefore intentionally student-centred. It aimed to follow a cohort of students from eight universities in their journey through university, and asked what obstacles these students encountered, and what they, along with their institutions are doing about these problems. As we entered the third year of the study in 2015, we encountered the beginning of the national student protests that brought national attention to many of the stories we had already heard from the students involved in this study. In the subsequent years of the study we heard from students who were actively involved in these transformation struggles as well as those who sat on the side-lines.

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A new metaphor is proposed for understanding the experiences of women pursuing [Doctorates of Philosophy] Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, based on a study of students in a US Ph.D. program. The notion of the 'glass obstacle course' captures the unequal gendered processes at work in women's graduate careers, including exclusion from the 'Old Boys' Club', outright sexism, a lack of women role models, and difficult work-life choices. These obstacles are 'glass' because they are often implicit and unanticipated: they are 'unseen, yet unbreachable' (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995). In-depth interviews elucidate the gendered and influential aspects of these barriers and the agentic strategies our respondents utilized to navigate them. In this way, career pathways for women scientists and engineers are shaped by ideological and structural constraints, informal and formal biases, and active resistance or accommodation to them. Such accumulated disadvantages can impact women's attrition from and satisfaction with their chosen STEM fields.

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The purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate premature dropping out of university study at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus in southern Thailand. Twenty one Muslim and non-Muslim males and females and four senior staff were interviewed. The findings are discussed in terms of practical implications and also reflecting on Tinto’s model of university dropouts from western findings. The five main reasons for dropout are interesting for the Eastern cultural context. These were concerns about being enrolled in a non-preferred field of study, security, and lifestyle, problems with time management and problems caused by a break or change in an intimate relationship.

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The most critical issue facing higher education today is how to provide access to instruction and services that will enable many more students to fulfill their postsecondary aspirations. Education, being both a public and a private good, brings together many of the forces of change in society and creates vast and unceasing debate. This report states what [the author] thinks needs to be done to help college students achieve educational success. The report outlines a number of key elements of college student success, recommends ways to create effective programs and outlines the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in creating the conditions for students to succeed. The publication is based on extensive outreach with AFT [American Federation of Teachers] higher education members and education policymakers, as well as a series of focus groups among higher-risk first- and second-year college students that are documented in the companion report 'Exploring student attitudes, aspirations and barriers to success'.

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Only about half of Latino, Black and Native American students graduate from high school. Much of the research explains school dropout using statistical relationships between dropout rates and a variety of 'risk factors' attributed to students, like income, race/ethnicity, academic achievement and behaviors and attitudes. In contrast, this study examines two Latino adolescents' everyday experiences of dropping out in the context of cultural and structural aspects of school and consciously works against the common view of poor students of color as inherently 'at risk' for school dropout. We illuminate how, through educational neglect and social and intellectual alienation, schools and school adults contributed to these two students' progressive disengagement from school. Implications for practice and further research are explored.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain significantly under-represented in higher education systems. There are significant disparities in university completion rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. The poor-retention and high-attrition rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students come at significant financial and personal cost for the individual, families, community, universities and governments. Existing evidence in relation to attrition has identified complex and multifaceted reasons including ill health, family and community responsibilities, financial difficulties, lack of social support, academic disadvantage and issues surrounding personal well-being. The current study aimed to add to evidence of the academic, financial, social support and well-being factors affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student's decision to continue or withdraw from their university studies. Contrary to expectation, students' decision to withdraw was not related to academic and social factors. It was found that students between 22 and 25 years old strongly agreed they were likely to withdraw from studies. There was a significant association between withdrawal and type of enrolment. This study provided important insights into the factors that contribute to a students' decision to withdraw from their university studies, with implications for future educational interventions.

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