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Academic survival: student retention in sport and exercise sciences

Tomlinson, Amy; Smith, Lois; Wilcox, Chris; Simpson, Andrew

Authors

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Mrs Lois Smith Lois.Smith@hull.ac.uk
Director of Studies - Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Science

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Dr Chris Wilcox C.Wilcox@hull.ac.uk
Associate Dean Student Experience, Faculty of Health Sciences



Abstract

Retention of higher education students is of major concern within the United Kingdom due to the financial and reputational impact on institutions, financial and personal impact on students and loss of potential skills and knowledge within society. Student background characteristics are acknowledged as the initial factors influencing retention within various models, however subject specific understanding is limited. This study aimed to identify pre-enrolment factors associated with student retention in Sport, Health and Exercise Science programmes. Student retention at department and programme level were calculated by ‘time to event’ analysis using Kaplan–Meier survival trend curves and log rank (Mantel–Cox) analysis for; gender, age, locality to the university, highest qualification on entry and participation of local areas in higher education (POLAR4) classifications. Results identified that male students, students from low Higher Education participation neighbourhoods and students who enter Higher Education without A-Level or foundation qualifications were at an increased risk of degree non-completion. Importantly, these characteristics were also disproportionally high in the student populations considered here. It is imperative that initiatives to improve retention, particularly in these populations, are sought and implemented at department level to improve student and institutional outcomes.

Citation

Tomlinson, A., Smith, L., Wilcox, C., & Simpson, A. (in press). Academic survival: student retention in sport and exercise sciences. Journal of Further and Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2356567

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 12, 2024
Online Publication Date May 20, 2024
Deposit Date May 21, 2024
Publicly Available Date May 21, 2024
Journal Journal of Further and Higher Education
Print ISSN 0309-877X
Electronic ISSN 1469-9486
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2356567
Keywords Sport science; Retention; Higher education
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4670964

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Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.




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