Bouncing Back from Setbacks in a Phase of Transition: The Role of Resilience in Higher Education

Abstract

High dropout rates in STEM disciplines are certainly among the most crucial challenges that higher education institutions are facing. Fortunately, recent research provides initial evidence for resilience being a valuable resource to overcome such adversity. Particularly in the context of primary and secondary education, previous studies indicate that resilience has the potential to contribute to a better understanding of what makes students more (or less) successful. However, so far, there is only little research on resilience in higher education. Furthermore, resilience research has devoted surprisingly little attention to boundary conditions that might influence the resilience of students in higher education. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the role of resilience within higher education not only from the student perspective, but also from that of faculty and administrators. In so doing, we conducted an in-depth qualitative interview study comprising of 56 academic deans, student advisors, and student representatives. The analysis of our multi-respondent data shows that previous findings and conceptualizations of resilience should not simply be transferred to the context of higher education, but that a more conscientious account of the specific features of this context is needed. Implications for future research on resilience, especially in the academic context, are discussed.