To match or not to match? Improving student-program fit in dutch higher education
In the Netherlands, every year a substantial proportion of first-year students in higher education drop out due to a wrong program choice. Matching has been introduced to decrease wrong choices. In this dissertation we studied various types of matching procedures using questionnaire and study progress data from four Dutch universities as well as interviews with (prospective) students. Based on a perspective of person-environment fit, we used three aspects that are important in determining whether students fit with the program of their choice: 1) interests, 2) believe in their abilities, and 3)... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | dissertation |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2022 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Utrecht University
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Schlagwörter: | Social Sciences |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26675218 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01GNF46KKVRGED2AGQG3VMWKFZ |
In the Netherlands, every year a substantial proportion of first-year students in higher education drop out due to a wrong program choice. Matching has been introduced to decrease wrong choices. In this dissertation we studied various types of matching procedures using questionnaire and study progress data from four Dutch universities as well as interviews with (prospective) students. Based on a perspective of person-environment fit, we used three aspects that are important in determining whether students fit with the program of their choice: 1) interests, 2) believe in their abilities, and 3) feeling at home in the program. In this dissertation, we examined the effectiveness of different types of matching procedures as experienced by students, and in relation to final enrollment and first-year student success. The interviews revealed that students believe that matching procedures can contribute to their understanding of the program. In general, the more aspects of fit with the program students could test in matching activities, the more useful the activity was found to be. Moreover, quantitative analyses showed that the types of matching that were found to be more useful by students involved programs where fewer students followed through on their initial enrollment; an indication that more students changed their minds after participating in a matching procedure. Enrollment rates have decreased since the introduction of matching for programs with intensive procedures, but not for less intensive programs, i.e. programs that only offer follow-up activities of questionnaire completion for students identified as at-risk based. Therefore, the introduction of matching procedures in general, and specifically the intensity of these procedures is a likely explanation for lower enrollment rates. Furthermore, we analyzed information from the matching questionnaires for the prediction of study success. It was found that indicators of fit, measured prior to the start of the program, were predictive of grade point average and ...