grade averages, the number of courses successfully completed, and the drop-out rates of students were the results of individual factors, that is, differences in the ways in which students selected their institutions and differences in the degree of success of their academic integration into the institutions they chose. The higher education institution attended had only slight impact on success. A study by Wilson (1984) of adjustment to university life in Africa used a two-stage process to identify and explore the extent of transition problems to the University of Zambia. A total of 40 different types of problems were identified, some of which were sufficiently potent, general or persistent, to be a cause for concern to the university authorities. The main problems identified were academic: difficulty of obtaining books because of insufficient copies in the library and bookshop; academic workload; poor matching of students to compulsory courses; difficulties with techniques of learning and studying at university. However, amongst the most serious problems was the university catering with a menu that lacked variety and poorly-cooked food. Bers and examined student-level data from one community college in the Midwest and found that academic and social integration played a role in determining which students would persist in, or withdraw from, higher education. They noted that social integration had a larger effect on persistence outcomes than did academic integration. However, the authors noted that a student’s educational objectives (for example, reasons for attending school) and employment status (part time or full time) contributed more to differentiating persisters from non-persisters than did academic integration and social integration experiences. Mackie explored undergraduate student withdrawal behaviour in the business school of a UK post-1992 university through a comparative, qualitative study of the experience of students who had left, and of those who had experienced similar difficulties and doubts but chose to remain. Attention was given to the complex interplay of personal, institutional and contextual or external factors that impacted on decisions to leave or to stay. Both groups of students experienced difficulties of integration within the formal and social aspects of university life, and a problematic context. However, leavers and doubters had different levels of commitment to the university experience. Homesickness, levels of
grade averages, the number of courses successfully completed, and the drop-out rates of students were the results of individual factors, that is, differences in the ways in which students selected their institutions and differences in the degree of success of their academic integration into the institutions they chose. The higher education institution attended had only slight impact on success. A study by Wilson (1984) of adjustment to university life in Africa used a two-stage process to identify and explore the extent of transition problems to the University of Zambia. A total of 40 different types of problems were identified, some of which were sufficiently potent, general or persistent, to be a cause for concern to the university authorities. The main problems identified were academic: difficulty of obtaining books because of insufficient copies in the library and bookshop; academic workload; poor matching of students to compulsory courses; difficulties with techniques of learning and studying at university. However, amongst the most serious problems was the university catering with a menu that lacked variety and poorly-cooked food. Bers and examined student-level data from one community college in the Midwest and found that academic and social integration played a role in determining which students would persist in, or withdraw from, higher education. They noted that social integration had a larger effect on persistence outcomes than did academic integration. However, the authors noted that a student’s educational objectives (for example, reasons for attending school) and employment status (part time or full time) contributed more to differentiating persisters from non-persisters than did academic integration and social integration experiences. Mackie explored undergraduate student withdrawal behaviour in the business school of a UK post-1992 university through a comparative, qualitative study of the experience of students who had left, and of those who had experienced similar difficulties and doubts but chose to remain. Attention was given to the complex interplay of personal, institutional and contextual or external factors that impacted on decisions to leave or to stay. Both groups of students experienced difficulties of integration within the formal and social aspects of university life, and a problematic context. However, leavers and doubters had different levels of commitment to the university experience. Homesickness, levels of
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