Students from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background are more likely to withdraw from their undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom (UK). It is therefore important to explore withdrawal experiences and perspectives that relate to this population of students to increase both student retention and success. Thirteen UK-domiciled, full-time undergraduate, first-degree entrants from a BAME background, who had withdrawn from a post-1992 university in the West Midlands, took part in a semi-structured interview. The present study explored BAME student experiences of withdrawal which covered personal, academic and social concerns. Using a thematic analysis approach, five themes were developed: (a) academic issues, (b) does anybody even care? (c) balancing part-time employment alongside HE, (d) family perception and pressure and (e) the importance of social integration. Participants often discussed withdrawal as a holistic experience whereby although certain aspects were more prominently spoken about, generally withdrawal was a materialisation of more than one problematic area. There is a need for institutions to further understand the challenges faced by BAME students in order to provide more localised support and intervention to improve BAME retention, success and experiences within higher education (HE).
Higher education (HE) withdrawal rates in the UK indicate fewer Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students (86.8%) compared to White entrants (91.3%) continue or qualify from university (ECU
University withdrawal is a global phenomenon, defined and measured differently across HE institutions in different countries. In the UK, HE student continuation data are measured by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), followed by annual reports by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU). The ECU presents the statistical data by HESA with the aim of improving the understanding of equality challenges faced by HE. Full-time first-degree entrants in HE institutions in the UK are tracked and placed in one of three groups one year later; continued or qualified, transferred or absent (ECU
Following a transition in the European education system towards mass HE within the last two decades, widening participation policies (with the aim of encouraging individuals from different populations to enter university) have increased the diversity of the student population entering HE, which may influence withdrawal rates (Hovdhaugen et al.
CRT is an analytical framework which explores societal inequity perpetuated through race and racism (Ladson-Billings and Tate
Early theoretical perspectives of student attrition adopted a sociological view suggesting social withdrawal was the significant causative factor of non-continuation (Spady
In the last two decades, several attempts to explore withdrawal from BAME backgrounds have been made (Nairz-Wirth and Feldmann
Several institutional regulations act as barriers to student success and may contribute to BAME withdrawal including limited course flexibility and course expectations (Bradley
Closely aligned to the institutional inflexibility is a lack of recognition and acknowledgement of how learning experiences prior to entering HE may impact. Learning factors which influence the decision of BAME students to withdraw from HE includes prior education and teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) practices (Thomas
There are numerous personal factors which may occur throughout a BAME student’s journey which include work or family-related commitments, religious responsibilities, challenging experiences and factors influenced from outside sources for example, family, friends or partners (Quinn
Sociocultural factors which consider the role of society upon the student may influence withdrawal for some BAME students. Encompassing a self-fulfilling theoretical perspective, whereby a societal expectation of BAME non-continuation influences self-perception, normalises withdrawal (Quinn
Structural factors undeniably reflect the students’ position among society, and influence BAME withdrawal across HE institutions, including socioeconomic factors such as culture, class and poverty (Manstead
Several policy factors have had secondary impacts upon HE students, which include decisions made to institutions such as financial cuts and reducing available resources. Bradley and Migali (
The present research addresses the issue of the increase in BAME withdrawal from HE each year (ECU
Participants included thirteen UK-domiciled, full-time undergraduate, first-degree entrants from a BAME background (see Table Participant pseudonyms and demographic data Pseudonym Ethnicity Gender Age Course University Year of withdrawal Residency Sarah Pakistani and White F 19 English Literature Birmingham City University First year Family home Hassan Pakistani M 22 Criminology Birmingham City University Second year Family home Amira Bangladeshi F 20 Psychology Not disclosed First year Family home Layla Yemini and White F 19 Fashion design Coventry University First year Family home Mona Pakistani F 20 English Literature Birmingham City University First year Family home Adam Lebanese M 21 English Not disclosed First year Family home Reece Pakistani M 21 Accounting and finance Birmingham City University First year Family home Aisha Black African F 20 Psychology Coventry University Second year Living in student accommodation Tristan Pakistani M 20 Sociology Birmingham City University First year Family home Kyle Indian M 21 Accounting and Finance University of Wolverhampton Second year Family home Haroon Pakistani M 20 Mathematics Not disclosed First year Family home Rebecca Black African F 22 Business and Marketing Coventry University First year Family home Salina Pakistani F 20 Sociology Not disclosed First year Family home
Semi-structured interviews explored participants’ experiences of HE, allowing BAME withdrawn university students to openly explain their individual perspective for withdrawing from university. A semi-structured design was used due to the flexibility and open nature of the method which allowed for follow-up questions when needed, to explore participants’ realities and experiences of certain topics in more detail, leading to a greater understanding of BAME university withdrawal (Turner III
The interviews were conducted by two researchers and took place in a private room within a public library. The interviews lasted on average 20 min and were recorded using an audio-recording device. The right to refrain from answering questions, to withdraw and to remove personal data, was outlined both before and after the interview. All participation was voluntary and confidential where pseudonyms were used when transcribing and potentially identifying information was removed.
Ethical approval was obtained by the Ethics Committee in the HE institution located in the West Midlands.
The interview recordings were transcribed by the two researchers and were conducted by hand. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data by reporting dominant themes and patterns which described the experience of BAME withdrawal using the six-step process (Braun and Clarke
Thematic analysis identified five themes which were developed from the interview transcript datasets (see Table Development from codes to themes Academic issues Does anybody even care? Balancing part-time employment alongside HE Family perception and pressure The importance of social integration TLA practices Lack of academic support Unsuitable work schedule Family pressure to stay in HE Social integration Course content choices Staff support Difficulty balancing part-time employment and HE Withholding information from family Minimal friends on course Misinformed about course content Student needs are unnoticed Work commitments as hindrance to social activities Family financial situation Peer support Lack of attendance Limited awareness of support services
For several participants, a bad academic experience largely influenced students’ decisions to leave HE. When participants were asked about TLA practices, responses revealed how the course failed to satisfy students’ needs, often with reference to a lack of enthusiastic teaching and staff inability to create stimulating learning and teaching environments for students. Most students entered HE with high levels of enthusiasm for their chosen course, often due to having previously studied and enjoyed the course at further education (FE) institutions and in many cases, this was lost when they attended HE. A common belief that staff failed to provide high-quality teaching due to a lack of enthusiasm and engagement was highlighted:
It was understood that participants found difficulty adjusting to the change of teaching style at HE which involved both lectures and online teaching methods. The challenge of engaging with the lectures and understanding the content being taught were attributed by some, to the large number of students present in the lecture halls which made it difficult for the participants to communicate and interact with lecturers. This form of teaching made participants feel like a number and spoken at rather than spoken with:
Attendance upon course commencement was often described as high; however, over time this progressively decreased as most students admitted to having below average attendance which eventually led to withdrawal. Many students voluntarily chose not to attend classes due to lack of effort and for social reasons, as at the time, outside influences were perceived as more important. Although, for some, the choice was not so straightforward as low attendance derived from factors which were beyond the individual and institution’s control. Such factors included health and family complications:
During the discussion of assessment methods, participants often felt more confident and identified a preference for either exams or written assignments which was commonly based on achieving higher grades in one. Interestingly, some participants reported feeling unable to successfully complete the course, regardless of the topic area or module content but purely based upon the method of assessment. When the course did not offer students preferred assessment method, feelings of dissatisfaction were experienced:
The method in which assessments were graded had devastating effects on participants’ self-efficacy and self-confidence. The grading system was discussed by some as unfair, especially when concerning group work. When participants felt that their desired grades were unachievable, they stopped pushing themselves to complete assessments and achieve better grades. The decision to withdraw from HE was confirmed for some students following an inability to cope which derived from a perceived lack of academic control:
Several participants believed they had been misinformed about the course content, often prior to commencing the course. Participants commonly referred to induction days and discussed discrepancies between what they were told prior to enrolment compared to the reality of HE. Participants suggested that had they known the facts beforehand, they would not have chosen to enrol onto the course:
One participant (Tristan) further discussed how open days were an ineffective measure for HE course preparation due to the time of year in which they were allocated. Tristan recommended a ‘taster day’ closer to enrolment would have been a more efficient method to allow for preparation and could possibly have even avoided HE withdrawal:
The above data tell a clear story of how a negative HE academic experience can influence a student’s decision to leave HE, drawing upon many interrelating factors which include disengaging TLA practices, reduced attendance and prior misinformation. Students’ academic experience was further affected by support, finance, family and social factors which will be discussed in the following themes.
When asked whether participants felt supported during HE, responses generally indicated a lack of staff support regarding academia and personal concerns. Students gave examples and explained experiences which, although differed in nature, generally related to students having felt overlooked by staff. Many participants spoke about how although academic guidance was sought, staff were reluctant to help:
Not only did a lack of academic support raise concern but issues related to a lack of timely responses from staff were also evident. Several students discussed the importance and need for faster staff responses when seeking course-related help which in some cases eventually led students to refrain from seeking help:
One participant (Sarah) also discussed how university reach out measures were too late to recognise student problems:
Many students mentioned feeling unnoticed by staff at some point, particularly during classes and at the time of withdrawal. Students discussed how they believed that staff knew about their personal challenges but chose willingly to ignore the reality of the situation and not to support the individual through this period:
As can be seen in the above extract, Layla felt very strongly about the lack of support received during withdrawal which she described as influencing her decision to leave HE, demonstrating the significance of staff support. A few participants further spoke about how they simply just wanted reassurance and someone to speak to during times of difficulty:
A lack of awareness of university support services resulted in numerous students feeling confused and therefore unsupported. Although some students acknowledged the institution’s support services, due to a limited knowledge on where and how such services can be found and used, students were unable to seek support:
When asked about what improvements could be made to HE, many students suggested they would like to see more support services to aid individuals academic and personal needs. Responses related to academic support from staff in the form of extra seminar classes, drop-in sessions, more class activities and mentoring. Counselling services were also suggested by one participant which covered more of a personal support approach:
In general, participants often described a rather negative experience of the academic and personal support received within university. The next theme considered how external sources (finance) can further impact upon students HE experiences.
Many participants described going through a difficult financial experience during HE due to inadequate financial funding which often led to students seeking part-time employment. Several participants had at some point during HE worked part-time alongside studying, the majority of whom lived with family, although both participants living with family and living in student accommodation faced financial difficulties. Participants discussed how they felt unable to cope with the pressure of working while attending university, many of whom were male. For some, the hours spent working, often shifts during the evenings and nights, was described as too much alongside the requirements of an undergraduate degree:
The inability to allocate time towards both revision and work corresponded with one of Reece’s decisions to leave university as he mentioned he would ‘rather do one thing work or uni’, so in the end withdrew from HE with the intention to work full-time. Balancing part-time employment alongside university also proved difficult for several other participants. The problems discussed ranged from coping with the academic workload to an inability to find time to revise for course assessments because of having to attend work:
Part-time employment restricted students from participating in extra-curricular activities such as university societies. Participants generally perceived working part-time as more necessary than pursuing social activities. Although students showed interest in societies, due to a lack of available time outside of university hours (largely because of work commitments), students felt unable to participate. Despite this, a minority of individuals managed to sign up to a society during their time at HE, however, often only took part in a few sessions and eventually ended up not attending:
Interestingly, non-engagement in extra-curricular activities is not necessarily due to lack of interest or motivation but partly due to a lack of available time. For many students, the importance associated with part-time employment alongside university may not have been a direct factor influencing the decision to withdraw. However, when correlated with additional factors such as social and family experiences which will be discussed in the following themes, part-time employment did contribute to the overall (often negative) experience of HE.
Family pressure to obtain a degree was evident across many participants. The importance and value associated with having a degree from the family’s perspective were often mentioned and on occasion students related this importance back to their ethnic background:
Some participants, particularly Sarah and Hassan, further discussed how university was common within the family, setting a standard for the participant which they believed was essential to follow:
Despite several students having recognised a dislike towards the course and having admitted to wanting to withdraw from the degree at a much earlier stage, due to family pressure the participants ended up remaining on the course longer than desired, regardless of personal views:
Obtaining a degree was often associated with good future prospects, including a good career and money which resulted in students feeling internally pressurised to complete HE:
Often the students who described feeling a pressure to continue in HE due to future family prospects also discussed family-related financial difficulties. Participants described feeling pressured to support financial needs through part-time employment and government funding, which was commonly used to contribute towards household bills and further necessities. One participant (Hassan) disclosed how he came from a ‘poor household’ indicating the pressures faced by BAME students who enter HE from low socioeconomic backgrounds:
Due to the high expectations families had about completion of a university degree, some participants felt pressured to lie and withhold information from their families regarding their withdrawal. The family reaction to withdrawal was generally described as a negative experience where feelings of anger and disappointment were displayed. Participants identified how family perceptions were considered important during the withdrawal process:
Despite Sarah’s challenging experience with her family during the withdrawal period, Sarah considered her experience as a great learning curve and although her family thought she wasted a year of her life, Sarah believed she made the right choice. On the other hand, some participants were supported by their families in their decision, and they described that the families decided to accept and support their decision to withdraw especially, if the participants felt ‘their heart wasn’t in it’. Participants reported receiving general advice from their families such as, ‘keep going to the lectures’ and to just ‘try’. However, given that all the participants opted to withdraw from university, it is reasonable to suggest that this perspective was not helpful:
Family pressure was identified strongly as a factor in the withdrawal process as was the social experience which is further explored next.
Social integration was a significant factor that occurred repeatedly across all interviews. A common expectation shared by participants was that ‘social integration would be easy at university’ which failed to align with the realities of HE. This was well documented by Haroon, describing an initially enthusiastic view that university is an enjoyable social experience although in reality, Haroon had not made any good friendships but instead experienced loneliness:
Making friends at university was an important concept as every participant spoke about the experience of forming friendships. For several participants making friends was a challenge, especially during the early stages of HE:
However, this was not the case for all individuals as some participants described a positive experience of making friends through socialising. For these students, making friends had improved the overall HE experience:
Sometimes, participants reported having focused too much attention on socialising, demonstrating an inability to balance both the student social lifestyle alongside the academic requirements of HE. Students mentioned how spending a large amount of time socialising had impacted upon their academic experience, as students reported missing lessons and favoured going out with friends rather than studying:
Culture was described by several students as a hindrance to social integration. Participants reported how being part of a minority ethnic group led to feeling different compared to the majority population. Variation between minority and majority ethnic groups was further highlighted as students reported differences regarding student treatment and the ability to voice opinions:
Several students recognised their minority ethnic background within the course studied and indicated that the lack of social integration and friendships formed, resulted from differences in cultural background. Other ethnic students were perceived as ‘reserved’ and unwilling to socialise with the participants:
The majority of participants mentioned how they believed peer support and academia were related. Some students discussed how they felt socially supported due to having friends who studied the same course which enabled individuals to seek academic support from peers when needed. These students also generally reported having a good social experience during HE:
Even for those students who had no friends on the same course, peer support was suggested to be a big part in aiding the academic experience. The conflict between a lack of peer support and a lack of friends studying the same course resulted in participants describing a difficult academic journey:
Further, the participants who reported having minimal course-related friends discussed how having more friends on the same course would have improved their overall academic experience:
Students highlighted the importance of social integration and peer support during HE regarding feeling confident enough to attend lectures and seek support when needed. Overall, findings demonstrate a lack of a sense of belonging and cohesion, which manifested in a reluctance and hesitation in verbalising needs and dissonances within the student experience.
The five themes offer some support to the understanding that BAME withdrawal is a process involving several interrelated HE factors including academia, finance, support, integration and family. Participants often discussed withdrawal as a holistic experience whereby although certain aspects were more prominently spoken about, generally withdrawal was a materialisation of more than one problematic area.
For the first theme ‘academic issues’, many participants described how teachers failed to engage students in lessons, resulting in a dissatisfied learning experience which demonstrates the importance of high-quality TLA practices and a need for stimulating teaching (Thomas
Even with additional university support initiatives (personal tutors and mentors) designed to address both academic and pastoral areas (Vossensteyn et al.
There was often a parallel between the importance associated with HE and employment which students found difficult to cope with at the same time, supporting Ahmed et al. (
The familial pressures discussed by participants involving the fulfilment of parental desires, reinforced a problematic area of family over involvement which was also highlighted by Stelnicki et al. (
In the final theme ‘the importance of social integration’, participants identified how having a lack of friends on the same course resulted in a difficult academic journey due to an inability to seek academic guidance from peers (lack of peer support), a primary example of Tinto's interactionist theory (1975). For some, the difficulty in relating to other people on the course affected students’ confidence regarding class participation, seeking help and even attending lectures which demonstrates the importance of encouraging social relationships with peers (Vossensteyn et al.
The current research highlights some gender differences, roles and expectations between students’ experiences of university withdrawal. Future research may seek to explore the effects of certain aspects of part-time employment upon HE experiences as males often mentioned working unsociable hours and generally described an inability to cope with the pressure of balancing part-time employment alongside university. It may be useful to consider that the present sample only accounts for the experiences of thirteen individuals whom consist mainly of British Asian students. Therefore, the current findings are largely specific to the British Asian population and additional research is needed to explore this phenomenon in a greater detail. Further, all participants had withdrawn from post-1992 universities with high BAME intake and withdrawal rates. Future research could attempt to recruit individuals within specific universities and cultures, including pre-1992 universities. This would allow for the exploration of trends within and between certain ethnic groups and/or universities, enabling universities to create more localised interventions and prioritise financial distribution towards the groups of students most in need.
The evidence presented in this research has practical applications for HE. It is important for universities to identify individuals, and in particularly BAME students, who are facing academic, social, financial or personal challenges throughout their time at university. The current research indicated that students felt unnoticed and overlooked by staff. Therefore, focussing upon taking steps to retain these BAME students who ‘stick it out and struggle’ by improving communication and relationships between students and staff through enhanced personal tuition and increased collaborative talks may partly resolve this issue in facilitating the identification of individuals who require extra support (Egan et al.
Despite efforts made by HE institutions to increase BAME diversity, it is clear that HE institutions are still finding it challenging to manage this level of diversity which inevitably impacts upon the HE experiences of BAME students. Although race may not directly be the only influential factor which leads to BAME withdrawal, CRT helps us to recognise race is fundamental to the understanding of BAME educational inequality and therefore, also BAME withdrawal from HE. CRT recognises that racism is embedded into the structure of society, where racial inequalities often get misconstrued as an ordinary process, as opposed to a consequence of racial domination (Ladson-Billings and Tate
The current analysis usefully contributes to the educational research which focuses on BAME student withdrawal. Prominent areas of concern highlighted by this research indicate that BAME students who withdrew from university experienced challenges regarding several interrelated HE aspects including academia, support, finance, family and social integration. Participants felt that they were underprepared for the transition from FE into HE and that universities were unable to adequately support them either academically or emotionally following the changes and increased demand of university life. With a national focus upon encouraging widening participation across HE, institutions must begin to further understand the challenges faced by BAME students in order to provide more localised support and intervention to improve BAME retention, success and experiences within HE.
No funding was used for this research.
The data and material of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest or competing interests.