There’s a mass of reasons why undergrads cease study, or don’t even start – but universities can, should, help them come back

Andrew Harvey and a sofa of friends* are here to help, with a major study on “maximising students’ uptake of university places following deferral or leave,” published by La Trobe U.

They find 8-10 per cent defer an offer of a course place and while 64 per cent do start later they don’t always enrol in their original course, or institution, of choice.

Of the 20 per cent plus of students who leave/withdraw during their degree, just 28 per cent return to study.

There are equity issues in this – while low SES students are less likely to defer, those that do are also less likely to return to study. And the authors call for strategies specifically for Indigenous students to “consider and monitor the impact of unconscious bias, racism, financial disadvantage and the curriculum.”

As to what institutions do about deferring and departing, this depends on how big an in issue it is for them, Innovative Research University and Regional University Network members are more across it than some in the Group of Eight.

Among many recommendations, the authors urge universities to adopt “more active outreach” to students on leave and suggest they “elevate the student voice” in ways to minimise withdrawal and increase return to study.

And lest anybody think this is all too hard there is a recommendation which makes bringing deferring/departed people back very much in institutions’ interests – that the government require a report on “the proportion of students who return to study after a period of absence.”

Every now and again a minister gets worked up over attrition – stats that show which universities do worst on getting leavers back would not look good.

* Andrew Harvey, Michael Luckman, Yuan Gao, Matthias Kubler, Wojtek Tomaszewski, Naomi Dempsey, Marcia Devlin, Elizabeth Cook, Braden Hill, Professor Angela Hill, Professor Sue Shore, Alison Reedy and Kathryn Holm