Preliminary Results Of A Longitudinal Study Into The Academic Success Of Students In Technology Focused Vs. Humanities Programs

Attrition rates in junior years of technology-focused programs are much higher than in humanities. As well, in recent years technology-focused programs have been experiencing drops in enrollment, and difficulties in attracting qualified candidates, while admissions to other programs seem unaffected. Such trends are worrying and thus we, as educators, need to improve efforts to better understand our students that would in turn allow the university to better plan and tailor their student success, retention and recruitment programs. This paper reports on the background and initial hypotheses as well as on the first survey results of a new longitudinal study which is intended to provide insight into retention issues, including an investigation of a “filtering effect” of the traditional instruction that the authors hypothesize is taking place and is partly responsible for high dropout rates, as well as for the reduced diversity of the student body as they progress through the technology-focused versus humanities programs. The study will also provide recommendations to improve student engagement and success.