Facing our Retention Challenge: a Self-Portrait

Abstract

Houston, we have a problem.‖ The national average graduation rate for undergraduate engineering students in the United States is around 55%. The average graduation rate for LeTourneau University's (LETU) School of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SEET) for the five-year period of this study was 42%, substantially below the national average. In addition to the SEET's low five-year average, the most recent graduation years show a definite decline, reaching a level of just 33% for the final year of this study. It was in light of our low and declining graduation rates that this study was conducted in the summer of 2009. In order to determine our (the SEET) current standing with respect to graduation and retention rates, we examined internal LETU data and compared it to that of other universities' engineering programs at large. We also attempted to answer the-Why are they leaving?‖ question by probing our own data and by surveying those who had left the SEET over the previous three years. Again, we compared our internal findings with those of other universities. An extensive literature study was also conducted in order to determine what other engineering programs are doing across the nation to increase their graduation and retention rates. The most successful of these efforts were identified and are highlighted in this study. After examining the improvements made by other universities that led to increased retention and graduation rates, and by looking at the current state of our school, we recommended that initial improvements be made in our freshman year. These should focus on an early introduction to the engineering field and the creation of first-year interest groups with significant faculty and peer mentor interactions. The development of a new first-semester course to provide experiences in engineering practice was also recommended. This report details our findings and supports our recommendations.

Improving Recruitment and Retention for Engineering Degree Students in a Rural Highly Underserved Community

“…The strategies adopted by the Department of Engineering were comprehensive and targeted some of the common attrition issues discussed in the literature 2,4,10,12 . The strategies were the following: e) Course pre-requisites redefinition to ease early access to the engineering content.…”