Holistic Perspective on Student Retention

Abstract

Student retention is becoming critical as the budgets for higher education are shrinking and the economies are becoming more and more knowledge driven. Student retention if not addressed in a holistic manner would mean loss not only to the institution but also to the development of human resources and equitable economic development. This chapter intends to review the causes of student dropout, the current approaches adopted for retaining students with focus on master level programmes in management discipline at a Namibian University. In doing so it also addresses the socio-cultural aspects of student retention and intends to provide a holistic framework for enhancing the rate of student retention.