Student retention: an exploration of the issues prevalent on a healthcare degree programme with mainly mature students

This article explores students’ experiences during the first year of a degree programme in a department within the school of healthcare professions in a UK university. The numbers of students on the course has increased by 30% between 2000/01 and 2003/04, and the percentage of mature (> 21 years of age) entrants has increased from 46% to 80% within the same time‐period. There is concern at the numbers of students electing to leave the programme within their first year, and this research has been carried out to obtain students’ perceptions of the programme and to determine if there is anything that can be done to curb the attrition rate. Focus groups were conducted with students in the first year of the programme, and students who had withdrawn were interviewed. The main topics focused on by students were integration, issues concerning a mixed age‐group of students, the relationship between education and career, and balancing studies with other life commitments. The results of this study should be of interest to those who are concerned about student retention within the current higher education environment of increasing and widening participation.