Attracting, engaging and retaining students in engineering programs — A case study

In this case study, statistical data was used from accredited undergraduate programs in electrical engineering to analyze and compare two distinct groups of students for various patterns related to program enrollment, retention and attrition. Group A (GA) students were admitted in the years 2000-2005. Group B (GB) students were admitted in the years 2006-2011. The two groups differed in terms of their program-related admission and completion requirements, curriculum design and curriculum contents. Cumulative data until the academic year 2012-13 was analyzed. The total intake for GA was 2% more than that for GB. The student retention was 46% for GA and 71% for GB. This is a significant improvement in the retention of students for GB over GA. Further, from those students who aborted their programs, 53% of the total attrition for GA and 79% for GB occurred in the first year of admission. These patterns showed similarities when analyzed for the sub-group of women students only. The analysis suggests that the retention of undergraduate engineering students could be influenced by admission and program completion requirements as well as curriculum design and contents. Further, first year students require more attention.