The Impact Of Socio-Cultural Factors Of Student Attrition At University

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Determining factors that shape students’ successful completion at university has been a prevalent topic in the higher education sector to address attrition issues. The aim of this paper is to focus on the impact of socio-cultural factors of student’s lives on university expectations, success and completion. Through qualitative methodology; focus group, interview and ethnography, this paper explores the role of social environment on university aspirations and what social-cultural factors influence success. The findings indicate that university success is influenced by parental expectations and conflicting priorities; and university success is a consequence of family and friends supportive role. The findings implicate that although prior research focuses on individual characteristics of students’ higher education aspirations and success, the social structure resources students rely on plays a critical role in understanding student engagement and attrition at university.
Although it is well documented that individual attributes such as motivation and academic ability influence success at university, recent research highlights that a complex set of socio-cultural factors influence student engagement and attrition (Lobo, 2012). In a recent study by Hobson APAC (2014), on Australian university student’s engagement and attrition, majority of participants listed ‘personal reasons’ as the reason for leaving university. These personal reasons included difficulty of fitting study in with family and work commitments and finances. In another study on student attrition, student expectations and perceptions of university were identified as a factor influencing success (Lobo, 2012). This paper will explore how socio-cultural elements of student’s lives impact their studies to better understand the realities of student life and their path to success at

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