COHORT ANALYSIS

Alfred MutangaMIS Specialist

University of Venda

Date: 22 November 2013Venue: NWU PUK Sports Village

Why a Cohort Analysis?

????A cohort?– A group of students selected for further study

• Meets a certain predetermined criterion• Often this a group of students enrolling for the first time in

a cluster together during the same academic period

– Baseline data: is the basis for cohort study

Baseline Data

Baselines• Established with internal data and are used to

determine performance over time– These data are used to represent the state of the issue

at hand before selected activities or events took place– Establishment of baselines is critical for continuous

quality improvement initiatives or other improvement processes

• Cohort Analysis refers to the use of data by institutions to compare current performances with a prior performance to determine trends

Theoretical Framework for Cohort Analysis

The Persistence- Retention- Attrition Triad?– Refers to the tendency for students to continue

their enrollment at an institution– Persistence focuses on the tendency of students

to continue their enrolment from semester to semester

– Retention Studies focuses on the tendency for the students to enroll in consecutive semesters

– Attrition relates to the tendency of the students to withdraw from a qualification

Persistence- Retention- Attrition how is HEDA taking care of this through Cohort Analysis?

Persistence-Retention-Attrition: HEDA Contexts

• Persistence: HEDA includes Enrolment Studies in the Cohort Analysis Application

• Enrolment Studies is an examination of the number of students enrolled for an academic period tracked year by year

• Persistence studies may include:– Study of Graduation rates– The Flow of students through the institution

• Data from these studies may become baseline for determining the impact of student retention-enhancing programs or activities

Retention

• Qualification Retention- tendency for students to continue attending a qualification until completion regardless of the grade they receive

• Usefulness of Retention Studies:– Show students’ overall determination to stay

enrolled regardless of grade– Highlight the patterns of student withdrawal from

qualifications

Attrition

Attrition in HEDA is defined with two indicators and these are drop-outs and Stop-outs

• This type of study is a variation of the aforementioned studies as it focuses on the persistence through a semester or an academic year.

• Stop-outs are students who withdraw from a qualification and at a later date re-join the qualification (or another at the same institution?)

• Drop-outs are students who withdraw from a qualification and will never re-join the qualification during the period of study

• Calculating attrition is an important aspect of determining student engagement with the institution

A Snapshot of Results of Cohort Analysis

Cohort Analysis Provoke Some Questions

• Graduates in the first Cohort Year-how come we have a graduate during the first year students enrol for a qualification? Methodology FCE

• Student Unit Records-– Who are the students who are retained in the system for such

a long time?– Are we doing enough as an institution to help students

graduate in record time or finish their courses?– What do our Teaching and Learning, Assessment say? Do they

need to be reviewed• Premise for Institutional Research activities concerning

student engagement with the institution, etc.

Our Experience Identifying Unit Records

Knowledge of

SQL

Thank you