A Comprehensive Review of the Major Studies and Theoretical Models of Student Retention in Higher Education

Abstract

Student retention rate has been a major concern for tertiary institutions around the world since the establishment of formal education. Generally speaking, not every student completes his or her study program. Although students fail to graduate for different reasons, some of them choose to voluntarily withdraw from their study programs. This might affect the image of the tertiary institutions in many different ways including their academic reputation and financial plans. To deal with such critical issue, there is a need for strategies and plans that are based on the findings of scientific research. The literature of student retention in higher education is rich of the theoretical models and empirical studies that gained consideration among researchers and educators over the last four decades. Therefore, some of these studies and theoretical models were comprehensively reviewed and discussed. The purpose of this is to provide researchers, educators and policy makers with a background to this issue and the latest strategies and techniques that help them deal with it as well as to find the common patterns and themes of the mostly reported student attrition factors.