SIT student retention poor

The Southern Institute of Technology’s first-year retention rates are among the lowest of Kiwi tertiary education providers, according to a new report.

However, the institute’s chief executive says the results aren’t a driving force for its enrolments.

The Tertiary Education Commission report measuring educational performance indicators [EPI] shows the institute had the lowest retention rate amongst all Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics and the seventhlowest among all tertiary education providers in 2018.

The first-year retention rate for the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) in 2018 was 36 per cent, well below the national average of 74 per cent.

The rate measures the proportion of students in a given year that either complete a qualification or re-enrol with the same organisation in the following year.

SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds said distance learning courses and the acquisition of Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand [Mainz] were part of the reason why first-year retention rates were low.

About a quarter of students enrolled at SIT were coming from distance learning, which typically had low retention, Simmonds said.

The report, however, showed that Open Polytechnic, which taught only distance learning courses, had a higher first-year retention rate than SIT, at 52 per cent.

The acquisition of Mainz also had a detrimental effect on SIT’s retention rates, Simmonds said.

Some Mainz courses had low completion rates which SIT had acknowledged when they decided to acquire it, she said.

Sometimes it was sensible for a student to pick up work, and it was something SIT did not want to discourage. SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds

SIT had cut some of the courses at Mainz because of its low completion rates and were currently going through a performance review that would create some ‘‘big changes’’ to the faculty, she said.

It was unlikely that the zero fees scheme had a major effect on first-year retention, she said.

The report also shows that SIT’s qualification completion rate was below average. This rate measured the proportion of students in the same cohort who completed a qualification in the same year.

A cohort is a group of students who enter into, and work towards, a qualification at the same time.

SIT’s qualification completion rate was at 48 per cent, compared to a national average of 60 per cent.

The report shows SIT had a coursecompletion rate of 77 per cent, below the national average of 83 per cent.

A course is completed in any given year, whereas a qualification can take several years to complete.

EPIs were not the driving force for

SIT’s enrolment, as the institution focused on needs of the community, Simmonds said.

Sometimes those needs involved a student completing certain papers but not necessarily completing the course, she said.

It was not unusual for a student to do a paper without the intention of completion, she said.

Another reason behind SIT’s course completion and first-year retention rates being below national average was that low unemployment in Southland meant students would pick up part-time or full-time work in the duration of their study, she said.

Sometimes it was sensible for a student to pick up work, and it was something SIT did not want to discourage, just to attain a higher EPI.