City of Glasgow College – External review (11 March 2016)
Excellent practice
Supporting Learners to Succeed: Improving Retention and Attainment
Through Co-ordinated Intervention
City of Glasgow College recognises the vital role that support services play in
helping learners to access, sustain, and successfully complete their chosen
programme. In line with the college-wide focus on improving the learner experience,
support services took collective ownership of their role in supporting learners to
succeed. In response to high rates of learner withdrawal and low numbers of
learners successfully completing their programme, support staff undertook a coordinated performance review of learner support services using an equality impact
assessment tool. All aspects of the learner journey from the point of application to
programme completion were systematically reviewed. The review took account of
learner and staff views and detailed analysis of admissions and recruitment data.
As a result of the review, changes were implemented at every stage of the learner
journey. These include improved admissions arrangements, and systems for
maintaining communication with applicants prior to enrolment. Arrangements were
put in place to deliver activities to help new learners settle in, provide focussed
advice and guidance to assist with finance issues and improve access to services for
learners with additional needs. The student engagement team developed and
delivered a range of helpful workshops to improve retention and attainment. These
workshops were arranged in close partnership between support staff and teaching
faculties and were designed to meet the needs of individual learner groups. As a
result of these focussed and co-ordinated approaches, the number of learners who
apply and proceed to enrolment has increased, learner withdrawals have reduced,
and attainment has improved significantly.