Improving the Retention and Progression of Students on the Arts and Humanities Access Module at the Open University

This project aims to improve the retention and progression of students on our Arts and Humanities Access module by trialling additional support and advice initiatives. Data collection will assess the impact of these activities, whilst the collection of qualitative data allows us to seek a fuller understanding of students’ motivations to study. 

Historic, anecdotal evidence from outreach work suggests that prospective students, particularly those from communities with low participation in higher education, do not consider the Arts and Humanities as favourably as subjects that carry a perception of a clearer pathway into employment. By embedding additional awareness-raising activities around careers and employability in the Arts and Humanities specifically, which feed into existing personal development activities on the Access module, we hope to see increased levels of progression onto our Arts and Humanities Level 1 pathway.  

 At the same time, there is a need to consider the related issue of retention. Data shows that students who complete Access and move on to Level 1 study at the OU are 10% more likely to complete than new starters who have not studied Access previously: if we can improve retention levels on Access this should not only have a positive impact in terms of progression, but it will build in a greater chance of success for those individual students as they progress with their studies. To address specific issues with mid-module withdrawal rates we have therefore partnered with the new ‘Personal Learning Advisor’ Service at the Open University to offer individual coaching/mentoring to students on Access modules.