STUDENT RETENTION AS A FUNCTION OF THE QUALITY OF LEARNER SUPPORT IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AT THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

STUDENT RETENTION AS A FUNCTION OF THE QUALITY OF LEARNER SUPPORT IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AT THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

DAVID CHAKUCHICHI

Student retention is critically linked to the quality of service in open and distance learning (odl).
Peterson (1997) points out that students will form favourable perceptions regarding the quality of
their experience and decide to persist. Student retention could therefore be viewed as a function
of the learners’ perception of the quality of service and support. Low student retention rates have
a negative impact on the perception of the institution. It is, therefore, pertinent to enhance the
student retention rate in odl. The study used tinto’s model of student retention as a theoretical
base which underpins the need to satisfy students’ social and educational needs in order to retain
them. The study is a descriptive survey utilising multistage purposive sampling in order to include
students across faculties and regions. The questionnaire and in-depth interviews were the meth-
ods of data collection. The results indicated that, student retention was affected by a fees’ prizing
policy that did not take into consideration the students’ ability to pay and lack of timely supply of
learning materials. It would appear that students’ retention as a function of the affordability fac-
tor, was affected by the negative macro-economic environment existent in zimbabwe at the time
of the study

Zimbabwe International Journal of Open & Distance Learning Volume

2011