Seeking successful outcomes for students at risk

The education literature provides several traditional indicators for identifying 'at risk' students, and this study empirically tests these and other indicators to determine whether particular combinationS of factors are related to student withdrawal, pass rat~s, grades and overall GPA measures in the UTAS business student population. Of a total population of 2,541 students, 25.9 per cent (658) were enrolled in their first year at UTAS in an undergraduate business course, either at entry level or with advanced standing. Females comprised 45.6 per cent of this group, and 73.6 per cent were enrolled at the Hobart campus . . Univariate frequencies were determined for cohort, gender; campus, commencing status, citizenship, country of birth, age, ITI score, TE score, entry category, year 12 qualification, and study load (business and non-business units), and these were cross-tabulated. Univariate frequencies on performance indicators were then. calculated and cross-tabulated with the demographic characteristics. In this way, it was determined whether specific factors within demographic groups, such as TAPE background, country of birth or prior school performclncehave similar effects on performance aqross the student groups, or. whether individual student factors predominate. This in tum determines whether or not performance can be predicted, enabling appropriate early interVention to occur. Further, the study includes an analysis of the relative performance of students commencing at entry level compared with students who gain advanced standing for s'tudies at other institutions, and whether this differs between Australian and overseas institutions . . Group-wide differences within and across student risk groups indicate that there are potential systemic factors affecting student performance that could be susceptible to change through the intervention of support mechanisms that ate groupspecific and therefore cost-effective~ The study concludes with a discussion of the implementation of these interventions.