Academics’ perspectives on a student engagement and retention program: dilemmas and deficit discourses

Within the contemporary higher education landscape, maintaining student engagement and retention has become of critical concern to universities. Universities have mostly responded to this concern by implementing institutional engagement and retention initiatives by professional university staff. Thus far, however, the role that teaching academics can play in student engagement and retention programs has been largely unexplored within institutional settings and within the higher education literature. In this paper, we reflect on our experiences as teaching academics involved in a student engagement and retention program at our university. Through a series of individual reflections and collaborative conversations, we problematise common approaches to student engagement and retention and question the role of teaching academics in these programs within neoliberal university settings. We bring to light troubling ethical dilemmas we faced during our participation in the program and our concerns about the deficit framing of students within institutionally driven engagement and retention initiatives.