Student Non-completion Factors and Targeted Resource Allocation: a Predictive Model

1 Chris Laing, Southampton Institute, Technology Faculty, Southampton, SO14 0YN, UK, [email protected] 2 Alan Robinson, Southampton Institute, Technology Faculty, Southampton, SO14 0YN, UK, [email protected] 3 Graham King, Southampton Institute, Technology Faculty, Southampton, SO14 0YN, UK, [email protected] Abstract  As an increasing higher priority United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions are introducing strategies to reduce student non-completion rates. However, current measures of non-completion make no allowance for the fluid characteristics of the Higher Education environment. Attention must be given to the characteristics of such an environment, and how this environment influences non-completion. It is from this perspective that a preliminary model of the teaching and learning environment has been developed. It is proposed that the underlying nature of such an environment can be captured using a Grounded Theory methodology and implemented as a Bayesian Vector Auto Regression model.