The Higher Education Academy’s Undergraduate retention and attainment across the disciplines report (Woodfield 2014) shows that students from a variety of backgrounds perform very differently against the key indicators of retention and attainment within diverse disciplinary contexts. That report provides the first systematic and quantitative overview of these issues drawing on 2010-11 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for all UK undergraduate students across 30 disciplines.
In 2015 the HEA commissioned a second phase of research into disciplinary differences in retention and attainment and the underpinning reasons for the identified variations. This overview report provides an overview to that research and along with the six short reports listed below provides a richer understanding of how different student groups experience different disciplines to better grasp how disadvantage plays out within different disciplinary contexts.
The six accompanying reports are:
- Issues in retention and attainment in Computer Science
- Undergraduate retention and attainment in Business and Management
- Retention and attainment of diverse groups in undergraduate Education disciplines
- Undergraduate student retention and attainment in Veterinary Medical Education
- Retention and attainment across the disciplines: Philosophy and Religious Studies
- Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design
