Higher Education: Factors and Strategies for Student Retention

Abstract

Education emerged out of the necessity different countries had for better-prepared workers. Well-educated citizens are responsible for taking the best measures for society’s social, financial, and political development (Claudio, 2002). Nevertheless, higher education institutions confront the problem of retaining students and helping them finish their academic degrees. This led me to research the role educational institutions have in retaining students and what should professors do at Bronx Community College (BCC) and other institutions.Objectives: Present academic offering factors related to the pedagogic process and social demands which can affect the retention of students in universities and Bronx Community College. Present strategies that can help with social demands and academic offering factors which influence the retention of students in universities and Bronx Community College. Promote strategies recommended by some retention models (Tinto, 1975, 1987; Bean and Metzner, 1986; Pascarella, 1991) and research showing the effectiveness of those strategies in retaining university students. All the suggested strategies in this article can be used as reference so higher education institutions can fulfil their commitment to the teaching process and to society and students do not abandon their studies. These practices can be applied at colleges, universities, or they may be substituted according to the educational policies of different countries. However, while higher education institutions have worked hard to retain more students through different strategies, there are always students who do not finish their studies.