Student engagement and departure intention: an Australian university perspective

Abstract

This study addresses the departure intentions of an Australian university business student cohort that is characterised by high levels of diversity in pre-entry attributes. The study investigates the level of student engagement using the academic and social integration components of the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) based on Tinto’s model of institutional departure. The results showed that the pre-entry attributes of students such as gender and low socio-economic status, together with first year of study, were not significant in determining student engagement. There were, however, significant differences in departure intention based on student engagement, particularly in terms of interaction with administrative support services and satisfaction with the educational experience. Overall, the findings support the view that institutional efforts to engage business students in the early stages of their studies minimise the risk of departure.

Keywords:

• departure intention
• student engagement
• business students

Notes

*Differences between groups significant at 1% (p < 0.01)

**Differences between groups significant at 5% (p < 0.05)

***Differences between groups significant at 10% (p < 0.10)

1. The SES figure was obtained using the postcode methodology utilised in previousstudent engagement studies. Business students with postcodes that appearedon the low-SES-community (state indicator) postcode list were assigned as low-SES business students. Debate about the appropriateness of the current postcode methodology exists, with the federal government acknowledging the need to move away from an area-based measure to more precise individual data (Sellar and MacMullin 2010).

2. The targeted population refers to the number of business students enrolled in theten selected units in the sample.

3. The following acronyms were used in Table 2 but are not included in the text:DI(No), for business students who have not considered an early departure fromuniversity; NSAA, for business students who are not satisfied with the academicadvice they have received; and NSEE, for business students who were not satisfiedwith their educational experiences at university.

4. All the contingency tests performed met the main assumption of chi-square, withthe minimum expected cell frequency being greater than 5. Increasingly, studentengagement is viewed as a means of combating attrition.