Abstract
There is little research on the study success factors of refugee students in higher education. One approach to meeting the growing global demands is to provide online education specifically for refugees. This study examines specific personal characteristics of refugee students and their influence on success and retention in online education. Individual factors such as intrinsic motivation and language proficiency, cognitive functioning, and sociodemographic factors such as gender and country of residence influence retention of refugee students during online studies. The results indicate that sociodemographic factors (e.g., gender), cognitive factors (e.g., English proficiency), and external factors (e.g., country of residence) have a significant influence on study retention on refugee students.
Highlights
Risk factors for refugees such as an interrupted educational history, a culturally different education system, and low competence in the language of the host country are obstacles for a possible entry into higher education (HE) and for a future high-quality employment and successful integration in the labor market (Campion 2018; Hirano 2014; Platzer 2018)
The aim of this study is to describe the influence of individual factors of refugee students on academic achievement on an online learning platform (Fig. 1)
We follow the approach of Halawa et al (2014), who define this as a suitable measure to determine the dropout rate from online education
Summary
Risk factors for refugees such as an interrupted educational history, a culturally different education system, and low competence in the language of the host country are obstacles for a possible entry into higher education (HE) and for a future high-quality employment and successful integration in the labor market (Campion 2018; Hirano 2014; Platzer 2018). Apart from factors that hinder a successful entry into university education, Wong and Schweitzer (2017) identify possible factors that influence the academic success of refugees: The integrative bio-ecological model states that academic success is interactively influenced by individual factors (e.g., gender, age, English proficiency, cognitive functioning), pre-migration factors (unsatisfactory language skills and interrupted education), and post-settlement factors (e.g., social support and school connectedness).
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