The result was that she excelled, ending up with a First class degree; she followed this success with a PhD in sociology.The research shows that the majority of students who drop out return to higher education within 10 years, according to Nutt. "If we have made the student experience enjoyable, the chances of them returning either to their previous or a different institution are greater," she says.The retention team concentrates its main focus on first-year students because they are particularly vulnerable to dropping out. Teesside has a Drop-in Student Skills centre where students can get help from a tutor in areas such as writing and studying without having to make an appointment. More than 1,250 students visit it a year and a review in 2004 confirmed its usefulness, particularly in helping first-year students.Teesside's six academic schools have developed differing strategies to help students who might be at risk of dropping out. The school of social sciences, for example, has a drop-in desk staffed by third-year students to help their fellow undergraduates with any problem, whether it's academic or personal Then there's the business school, which runs workshops. There's one, for example, that helps first-year students of business studies to integrate into their new environment.In the arts and media school, meanwhile, progress files are used to help students organise their work, register their achievements and build confidence.
In the school of health and social care, learning groups have been established to give students a sense of belonging. All first years are organised into a learning group of approximately 25 - a number that's small enough to encourage solidarity but large enough to allow students to mix.Mentoring has been adopted in the school of science and technology, whereby second-year students take first years under their wing. And, lastly, the school of computing uses an online system called Blackboard to enable students to find out about their course and their school. The first-year support site includes discussion forums for students and access to staff.Teesside is especially proud of what it does for mature students, and believes that its programme Twenty-One-Plus, a pre-induction activity to break the ice for older students, helps to give them a happy introduction to the university.Not all universities are as successful as Teesside in keeping students, however. A report published last month by the Higher Education Policy Institute discovered that the former University of North London had a higher drop-out rate than the former London Guildhall University with which it merged to form London Metropolitan University. The report attributes this high rate - 22 per cent dropping out before the end of the first year compared with 15 per cent at London Guildhall - to the fact that it admitted a large number of students without A-levels who would have been rejected by other universities. But, London Metropolitan says that it has taken action over its drop-out rate, which stands at 28 per cent over the three years of a degree.
It has improved its procedures for student inductions and introduced new systems for supporting students. Teesside has shown how important such systems are.l.hodges independent.co.uk. The decision by the University of Hull to close its mathematics department is sending shock waves around Academe, coming as it does after the decision to close the chemistry department at the University of Exeter. The rationale in Hull's case is financial, though the details are very different from Exeter's Hull does not have enough students.
