Undergraduate Non‐Completion: Developing an Explanatory Model

This paper presents an explanatory model of undergraduate non‐completion based, primarily, on the findings of a qualitative case study. Previous research in the field of non‐completion is briefly reviewed. Such work is somewhat limited in its explanatory usefulness because it tends to focus on the student as the problem. The causes of non‐completion can only be fully understood as the culmination of a complex social process of student‐institution interaction which operates within the context of change in higher education. From this sociologically‐informed theoretical framework an explanatory model has been devised that shows how the process of withdrawal for conventional students (i.e. students who enter HE through the traditional academic route) is markedly different from that for mature students. For conventional students the factors which appear to be of central importance are student preparedness, compatibility of choice, and time of exit. In contrast, mature students are often forced into non‐completion because of external circumstances. Following a detailed description of our explanatory model of undergraduate non‐completion, we present a number of strategies for intervention at both national and institutional levels and outline the implications for higher education policy.