The emergence of academic development in Anglophone higher education was linked to post Second World War massification and concerns about student failure. These concerns were driven by increasing statistical investigations into student attrition and degree times to completion, particularly in Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand. There was a…

Background: The field of higher education abounds with qualitative research aimed at highlighting the needs, struggles, strengths, and motivations of academically struggling students. However, because of the small-scale nature of these studies, they rarely enter the public debate or impact institutional policy concerning access, remediation,…

This study analyzed the effect of mathematics courses on a cohort of students at a 4-year university in order to compare the effect of mathematics on adult students, those 25 and older, and traditional-age students. The transcripts of the 118 adult students and the 3,747 traditional-age students who were freshmen in the fall of 1999 were compared.…

The amount of merit-based scholarship support for graduate students in the United States has increased dramatically. Given this increased investment, does increasing the size of scholarships awarded to the most academically able admitted students substantially increase their probability of enrollment? We found no support for a positive answer to…

Doctoral programs in the humanities and humanistic social sciences contend with relatively lower graduation rates and longer duration to degree. While reforming graduate education can include changes to financial aid awards and program requirements, enhancements in the area of advising can also improve student educational experiences and outcomes…

Although admission criteria such as GRE scores and undergraduate GPAs (UGPAs) have been shown to moderately predict success in graduate school for students in other academic disciplines and in MSW programs, no published research has examined factors associated with success in social work PhD programs. This article reports the findings of a pilot…

This study investigates the effect of geographic distance on students' distance learning experience with the aim to provide tentative answers to a fundamental question--does geographic distance matter in distance education? Using educational outcome data collected from an online master's program in Geographic Information Systems, this…

For the United States to maintain national and global economic stability, colleges must graduate more students. Four-year completion rates have declined and less than one-third of full-time, degree-seeking students graduate in 4 years. Some researchers and policymakers have suggested "leading indicators" to track postsecondary…

The study examines whether the reduction in the timeframe for the completion of university studies in Greece will affect students of different socio-economic background disproportionally. To this intent, it assesses the influence of the status of students, defined as working and non-working, on the duration of studies but the relevance of other…

The supervision literature often conceptualizes the supervisor as the primary person in doctoral students' progress. Yet, there is growing evidence that the supervisor is but one of many resources that students draw on. Our study takes up this idea in answering the question: What is students' experience of their supervisory relationships…

A qualitative and quantitative content analysis was conducted of all text-based synchronous online chats at an oral communication peer tutoring center throughout a semester. As a comparative benchmark, chats at the same university's main library were analyzed over the same time period. The library's chats were much more heavily weighted…

This paper examines the effect of early childhood investments on college enrollment and degree completion. We used the random assignment in Project STAR (the Tennessee Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio experiment) to estimate the effect of smaller classes in primary school on college entry, college choice, and degree completion. We improve on…

Minority doctoral students at elite and highly competitive private research universities encounter distinctive challenges that can impact persistence, time to degree, and professional outcomes.

This study examines how a selected Hispanic-Serving Institution is implementing Advancement Via Individual Determination as a strategy for improving retention and time to graduation for 1st-generation Hispanic college students. A quasi-experimental design approach was used in which the retention rates and 1st-semester grade point averages of a…

Timely completion of university degree programmes is a topic of growing concern to higher education institutions and their students. This paper reports on a study about the impact of degree programme characteristics and student motivation on study progress. The setting for the study is a Dutch law school. Data on degree programme characteristics,…