Federation University will implement a new strategic plan to help stem the numbers of students who fail to complete their courses.
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Education Department data released yesterday showed Federation University recorded the lowest completion rates for a mainstream university, with 36.4 per cent of students who started a course in 2010 finishing within six years.
Federation University vice chancellor Professor Helen Bartlett said the completion data was under-reported because of a change in internal reporting systems.
“We notified the (education) department about this and are going to recalculate the figures ourselves because we know it’s a gross under-estimation of our completion rate,” Professor Bartlett said.
Over the past few months the university has been working on a five-point strategic plan that will be implemented next year.
At its heart will be the student experience, and introducing more support structures to help identify students who need assistance.
“We recognise it is critical that we put in place as much support as we can for students to enable them to continue,” she said.
“We know once students are accepted in to Federation Uni there’s no reason why they can’t succeed if we give them the opportunity.”
Enhanced mentoring programs, tutoring and counselling services will be offered with the different needs of different students – from mature age students returning to study after a long period to school leavers adjusting to tertiary education and possibly living away from home for the first time – being taken in to account.
Previously published figures also showed 28.8 per cent of students failed to complete the first year of their enrolled course at FedUni, the second highest rate in Victoria.
”We are looking in a lot more depth at what works and what doesn’t, rather than throwing everything at a student and hoping it will work. We are putting a lot more focus on support that we know the effectiveness of.”
Professor Bartlett said other published figures on university outcomes, including the recent Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching report, showed the university was doing well.
“When you look at all our other indicators, such as QILT, we are ranked number one for employment with 92.1 per cent of graduates employed four months after graduation, and we ranked number one for student support and median salary for graduates.”
The improvement strategy also looks to grow student numbers, build positively on measures including graduate outcomes, employability and employer satisfaction, forge stronger links with industry such as IBM, and concentrate more on research.