Retention of International Students
The value of a college education is continually stressed today as an essential component of success in life. However, merely encouraging students to attend college is not enough: measures of student retention are far more critical in assessing the success of an academic program. Universities in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom have all had trouble retaining students, particularly from historically underrepresented groups (Lau 2003). The consequences of low retention rates are not simply grave for the individual, but also for society, given the advantages a professional degree can convey. For example, in the profession of engineering, from "1983 and 2002, the percentage of women among bachelor degree recipients went from 13.3% to only 20.9% [2]. In addition, the retention rates for female engineering students are substantially lower than their male counterparts" (Franchetti, Ravn & Kuntz 2010). A lack of female and minority representation in the sciences can perpetuates the economic disenfranchisement of these historically...
For example, the University of Toledo increased retention of women in its engineering major from 51% to 73% by instituting an academic support program which combined mentoring efforts, hiring new female professors, creating an academic society for peer support and offering female majors the opportunity to work in the field, to give them a sense of what completing the program might give them later in life.
The need for institutional support rather than a 'sink or swim' attitude towards historically underrepresented groups at a university is essential regarding the retention of international students as well. "Many more students leave because the institution has failed to create an environment, inside or outside the classroom, that is conducive to their learning and educational needs. These students do not return to their college because they are unhappy with the education that they are…
