Which students benefit most from an intervention aimed at reducing academic procrastination?

ABSTRACT

In higher education, many students do not complete their studies within the term allotted. A Dutch university implemented an intervention aimed to reduce this form of academic procrastination. The intervention consisted of three measures: (1) requiring students to acquire all first-year credits within their first year in university, (2) reducing the number of resits, and (3) introducing compensation opportunities for insufficient grades. In this study, we investigated which groups of students (if any) benefited most from this intervention. We divided 29,629 students entering the university between 2009 and 2015 into subgroups based on their gender, ethnic background, and level of achievement during pre-university education. For each subgroup, we determined both first-year completion and three-year bachelor graduation rates, both before and after the introduction of the intervention. It was demonstrated that almost all subgroups profited from the intervention. Particularly students from subgroups that in the past performed less well showed much better first-year completion rates and much lower study delay rates. Dropout rates did not change significantly. For most subgroups, an effect of the intervention was still visible after three years: Three-year graduation rates were higher, although the effect was smaller than completion rates in the first academic year.

KEYWORDS:

• dropout
• gender
• ethnic background
• academic procrastination
• pre-university achievement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For instance, a sociology first-year curriculum typically consists of a number of different subjects, each concluded with an examination. (The end-of-course grade could include results of intermediate tests and performance during practicals) If a student fails one or more of these exams, he or she is allowed a resit. If failing one or two again, additional opportunities exist to repeat them in the second year.

2 Pre-university education takes six years in the Netherlands. Upon completion, students are being assessed on each subject studied through a national examination. Pre-university education GPA is the average grade for all subjects examined.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gerard J. A. Baars

Gerard Baars is director of the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO). NRO enhances the connection between education research on the one hand and educational practice and policy on the other hand. The research of Gerard Baars focuses on student success in higher education.

Henk G. Schmidt

Henk Schmidt is a professor of psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Previously, he was the rector magnificus of this university. His areas of expertise include problem-based learning, long-term memory and expertise development. In addition, he is interested in student success in higher education.

Peter Hermus

Peter Hermus is the manager of the High Tech Data Unit at Risbo, the research, training and consultancy centre of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His work ranges from the use and analysis of existing data to complex data collections. He specializes in the application of registration systems use in (higher) education for research purposes.

Henk T. van der Molen

Henk van der Molen is professor of psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Previously he was the Dean of the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences at this university. His areas of expertise are professional communication skills training, problem-based learning, and educational assessment.

Ivo J. M. Arnold

Ivo Arnold is professor of economics education at Erasmus University Rotterdam and professor of monetary economics at Nyenrode Business Universiteit. In the past 15 years, he has been in charge of the educational programmes at the Erasmus School of Economics. His main research interests are economics education and European monetary and financial integration.

Guus Smeets

Guus Smeets is a professor of psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Previously he was director of education and chairman of the department of psychology, education and child studies. He has a special interest in assessment in higher education, problem-based learning, and effective learning strategies.