ABSTRACT
The challenge for widening participation lies not just in attracting students from under-represented groups to access Higher Education; it lies in supporting them to be successful once they are in Higher Education, and beyond. While finance is an important factor in students’ decisions to leave university, it is not the most important reason and there are many things that institutions can do to improve retention and success by increasing students’ engagement and sense of belonging. This chapter draws on evidence from the What Works? student retention and success programme about improving student retention and success (Thomas 2012) to consider the role of institutions, particularly through learning and teaching, in promoting inclusion and the success of all students. This is of increasing importance in the context of increasing student fees to participate in Higher Education in England and in many other countries. The What Works? programme consisted of seven projects and involved 22 Higher Education institutions, undertaking research and evaluation concerning effective approaches to improving student retention and success. Each project had a different focus, and used a range of methods including interviews, surveys and analysis of institutional data. While some specific interventions have been shown to improve retention rates by up to ten percentage points, the research does not recommend one intervention over another, as differing contexts mean that outcomes may not be transferable, but the evidence from across the projects firmly identifies the importance of students having a strong sense of belonging in Higher Education (HE). Belonging is the result of engagement, and this is most effectively nurtured through mainstream activities with an overt academic purpose in which all students participate. Building a culture of belonging in institutions requires institutional transformation, in which students and staff engage together to bring about change, particularly through learning and teaching.
