Investigation of the key factors that influence high-achieving students’ enrolment and retention rate into a small honours programme and their satisfaction level towards the programme

ABSTRACT

Honours programmes have successfully provided academic rigour, special scholarships, and better career prospects over a century. However, recruiting and retaining these exceptional students – the key to creating a successful honours programme – becomes more challenging when the national college enrolment declines significantly every year. Hence this study investigated the factors affecting honour student recruitment, retention rate, and their satisfaction level at a private university in Northern Taiwan, expecting the results to help higher education administrators develop effective strategic plans. Quantitative and qualitative data from fourteen undergraduate honours students were collected using questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that important factors affecting students’ selection process include deeper learning and supplement opportunities in academics and community, followed by scholarship and connection with faculty. Additionally, academic advising and opportunities serve as predictors of freshman satisfaction scores in the honours programme.

KEYWORDS:

• Honours programme
• higher education policy
• student recruitment
• student experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hungche Chen

Hungche Chen is an Assistant Professor of Foreign Language at Chang Gung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Chen has also served as director of the university's Honours Programme since 2020.

Mingnuan Yang

Mingnuan Yang is an associate professor at Chang Gung University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include English for specific purposes, corpus linguistics, and language learning strategies.