Bret Stephenson warns of new consequences for students who enrol but never appear

“Non-participating enrolment” may contribute to people being ineligible for the Commonwealth’s Job-Ready Graduates Package, he warns in new research for the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education.

“Ghosting behaviours place an academic and financial burden on students; universities see a reduction in their publicised ‘success rates’; and governments see little return for the allocation of Commonwealth Supported Place funding,” Dr Stephenson (La Trobe U) suggests.

Why students ghost, staying enrolled, but attending no classes and submitting no work, puzzles Dr Stephenson, “given the consequences for students are rather severe; a student is guaranteed to incur a record of academic failure and amass wholly negative student debt,” (CMM November 4 2019).

He now argues, “improved identification and support is required for ‘ghost students’, particularly Indigenous students who are at a high risk of ghosting behaviours.”