Quality Improvement in Higher Education: implications for student retention

Abstract

The complementarity between two critical issues in higher education are explored: adoption of a quality improvement philosophy and student retention. Key elements of quality improvement as practised in higher education are described briefly, and a conceptual framework is presented, which clarifies the hypothesised link between quality improvement and student retention. Student persistence is examined within the context of a theoretical model of student retention, and found to be consistent with the critical elements of quality improvement. The authors conclude that student retention is a relevant measure of academic quality improvement efforts and suggest areas in which empirical research might usefully be undertaken to explore the nature of this relationship.