Learning is a core part of all forms of higher education work. College leaders of all kinds--administrators, staff, faculty, and students--must know how to seek out and support the wide array of learning that can go on in colleges and universities.

This chapter delves into the growing influence and impact of rankings on higher education, as a lens through which to view how the race for reputation and status is changing the higher education landscape, both globally and nationally. The author considers the extent to which rankings are driving policy choices and institutional decisions and the…

Student movement between institutions can no longer be deemed atypical. Approximately one-third of all students transfer during their college career and of those who transfer, 25% will transfer more than once. While movement from two-year to four-year institutions is still the most prevalent transfer pathway, it is important to note that 43% of…

In this article, the author illustrates how three campuses have, in their own way, attempted to bring coherence to the student experience and enrich that experience by more closely matching what was promised to what each student actually experiences while enrolled. Fulfilling students' expectations that were purposefully articulated in the mission…

Over 35 years of retention theory and literature have acknowledged the importance of institutional and student profiles in accounting for cross-sectional differences in retention and completion rates between types of colleges and universities. The first "P" within a 4 Ps framework of student retention--"profile"--recognizes that an institution's…

Few words have dominated the vocabulary of college retention as has the word "persistence." Many institutions still struggle to engage faculty and administrators in building campuswide retention efforts, to find the organizational levers that translate the abstractions and complexities of retention theory into scalable and durable initiatives, and…

When institutions engage in discussions regarding improving retention and graduation rates, invariably the conversation focuses on entering student characteristics, especially ACT and SAT scores and high school grades. Clearly, attracting and enrolling well-prepared and motivated high-ability students will certainly improve institutional measures…

At every college and university, students enroll with expectations and aspirations about the kind of experience and the kind of outcomes that the institution delivers. When those expectations are met and exceeded, students are satisfied and likely to remain committed to their college choice. When their experience falls short of their expectations,…

A 4 Ps perspective addresses immediate needs: to help institutions gain traction in their retention strategies by framing and reframing the challenges and the possible responses, by challenging some of the traditional mental models about retention that can distract or dilute those strategies, and by offering focus and coherence to institutional…

A 4 Ps framework for student retention strategy is a construct for reframing the retention discussion in a way that enables institutional improvement by challenging some conventional wisdom and prevailing perspectives that have characterized retention strategy for years. It opens new possibilities for action and improvement by suggesting that…

Any institutional approach to improving graduation rates must include faculty. Faculty, more than anyone else, deliver an institution's "promise," one course at a time. They also evaluate whether or not students have demonstrated sufficient mastery of the subject at hand to make "progress" toward their degrees. This article considers how…

Focusing on the student experience broadly defined and, in particular, on the quality of student encounters in and out of the classroom is of critical importance to improving student outcomes. Improving learning, satisfaction, retention, time to degree, and graduation outcomes is not predicated simply on improving entering characteristics or…

In ten years, Alaska Pacific University has moved from a totally decentralized administration of its adult online program to a very centralized structure. Drastic changes in funding sources and student needs have compelled the university to take new approaches. As the learning landscape continues to shift for adults, online learners, and Alaska…

Codes of conduct can and should fulfill a critical role in higher education. Codes help overcome some of the challenges inherent in a system predicated on high levels of autonomy and on self-regulation. Codes not only are important indicators of critical topics that are deemed worthy of explicit protection or expectations for behavior; they may…

Indiana University (IU) provides great support for the technology the community needs to teach, learn, and conduct research. Rather than limiting support by defining a rigid support matrix, IU has chosen instead to utilize knowledge management technology to provide self-service for repetitive information technology (IT) questions, and focus…