Journey to Success: Enhancing student recruitment and progression on F79 (Phase 1)

 Phase 1 of Journey to Success investigates students’ motivation to register for the MA in Translation Studies (F79) and phase 2 tracks their journey through the qualification. The project addresses retention and progression as key challenges in online education, focusing on student behaviours that occur in the process of signing up for a module. Using the COM-B behavioural framework, this project will ensure that we continue to foster engaging, supportive, and effective learning environments, enabling students not only to advance academically but also remain committed to their educational journeys.  

Phase 1: Using a mixed-methods approach, we will collect survey data from students on L801 25B to evaluate their decision to enrol on F79.  Students are invited to follow up their responses with an interview to develop a deeper understanding of the factors involved in making the decision to register for postgraduate study. In phase 2, we will carry out follow-up interviews with a subset of these students as they progress on to the next module(s), in which they are given an opportunity to talk about their journey on the qualification. Embedding student voices and letting students participate in developing retention and progression activities contributes to enhanced student experience. 

The study is underpinned by the COM-B framework of behavioural change (Michie et al., 2014). The model can be used to identify factors that prevent, support or maintain a behaviour, and to design interventions in order to achieve long-term changes in behavioural patterns (Michie et al., 2014; Michie et al., 2011). In terms of this study, the behaviours under investigation are transitioning from UG to PG study and progressing through PG study.