A Retention Study At Baylor University

Faced with an engineering program graduation rate of approximately 22%, Baylor University’s Department of Engineering recognized the need to identify factors influencing student attrition from engineering. By attracting new students and retaining current engineering students, Baylor University‘s engineering program has improved this graduation rate in the recent past to approximately 30% but this is still below the national average of 38%. The engineering program at Baylor University is a small, undergraduate only program with a strong emphasis on teaching and student/faculty interaction. Retention statistics for the program are presented and compared with the literature. The work and results from the School of Engineering and Computer Science Retention Committee is reported. The committee explored risk factors contributing to the loss of students. The freshman course sequence is also presented. One outgrowth of this study was the creation of a Freshman Success Task Force, which is charged with generating “a plan and process to increase the success/persistence of freshman computer science and engineering students at Baylor.” The retention goals set by the Task Force are discussed and the resulting curriculum initiatives presented. Of note is the participation of Baylor University’s Information Management and Testing group, which helped identify capabilities and limitations associated with institutional data collection/management and started the search for relevant data analysis and collection instruments.