The purpose of this report is to open up the discussion of possible reasons for student withdrawal or for retention and attainment in Business and Management studies. This report builds on the general treatment of retention and attainment across the disciplines in the UK set out in Woodfield’s (2014) report HEA report Undergraduate retention and attainment across the disciplines. That report considered the broad landscape of retention and attainment across all of the main disciplines studied at undergraduate level in the UK. It indicated that for Business and Management the patterns of retention (94% continuing to complete their studies) were in line with the cross-discipline average while attainment (the proportion of students obtaining a first or upper second degree classification) at 56% was lower than the cross-disciplinary average.
This report differs however in having a focus on academic research centred on student retention and attainment in Business and Management studies where possible; and a concern for insights about causes and improvement interventions that can impact on retention and attainment based on a qualitative (rather than quantitative) engagement with the issues as they are presented in the disciplinary and general literature.
