The First Year Experience In Higher Education : Between Retention and Attrition Sociological Perspectives and Challenges

The global university dropout rate averages around 30% (University World News, 2025). Research has shown that the First-Year Experience is critical to balancing retention and attrition.

Rates vary heavily by region and income, ranging from under 20% in parts of East Asia and Northern Europe to over 40% in emerging economies across Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa (University World News, 2025).

Vincent Tinto (1975, 1993, 1997) developed a model of student attrition and a revised Student Integration Model (1997) which explains student retention and by implication attrition in relation to the university context. The model is useful in predicting student success taking into account the barriers of pre-university or prior history against institutional demands. His model posits the intra-institutional impact on the student in terms of a “longitudinal model of institutional departure” based on an environmental input-process-output model (Tinto, 1993, p. 114). It is an interactive model.

The purpose of this session is to explore the extent to which the model explains the reasons for retention and attrition of students in higher education with reference to challenges in the global north and global south. We also explore the extent to which higher education institutions accommodate for student diversity such as non-traditional students, students of colour, non-residential students, older students who work and/or have families, low-income students, family background, skills and abilities and prior schooling. We also look for contemporary successful sociological interventions including digital technology and artificial intelligence in responding to the academic and social need for integration and success.