Factors Affecting Students' Retention at Kuwait University

This article addresses the factors that affect students' retention at Kuwait University. Five hundred seventy students participated in the study. A survey of 22 retention factors was designed to measure student perceptions.

Students presented their agreement on factors which included: achieving personal aspiration, getting jobs, free-of-charge education, acquiring social class, developing skills, achieving academic merit in a field of study, high standard reputation of the university, and feeling one belongs to the university No statistical differences were found among the students' responses according to their colleges, marital status, grade point average, numbers of academic warning, and citizenship status.

However, first-year students reported that these factors influence their retention better than other class levels. Increasing student retention is becoming a significant issue in most higher education institutions, specifically for the institutions that face a high drop-out rate. Barefoot (2004) stated that most universities and US colleges face a high rate of first and second year student attrition. For some universities, this issue may negatively affect their economic level, whereas students' fees and tuitions increase the financial revenue of the institution. Read more ...