Early warning systems for more effective student counselling in higher education: Evidence from a Dutch field experiment

Abstract

Early Warning Systems (EWS) in higher education accommodate student counsellors by identifying at-risk students and allow them to intervene in a timely manner to prevent student dropout. This study evaluates an EWS that shares student-specific risk information with student counsellors, which was implemented at a large Dutch university. A randomised field experiment was conducted to estimate the effect of EWS-assisted counselling on first-year student dropout and academic performance. The results show that the EWS accurately predicts at-risk students. Yet, EWS-assisted counselling did not reduce dropout, nor improved academic performance. Solving the underlying problem of poor academic performance might require additional actionable feedback and recommended counselling practices.