Retention rates - renewed interest but whose interest is being served?

This paper explores the current increased level of interest in student retention rates for full-time undergraduate study. State interest in student retention rates ranges from the strategy speech by the Prime Minister to the National Audit Office's focus on ‘value for money in higher education', through to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education & Employment's enquiry into access and retention in higher education. The interests served by three stakeholders - the state, universities and colleges, and students are considered. A proposition is advanced that as UK higher education moves from an élite system to a mass system in size, the élite instincts continue to have dominance and work against student retention. While interest in retention rates from a comparative perspective, such as between the US and the UK higher education systems, can provide insight there is always need to be sensitive to the differences between the two higher education systems when drawing direct conclusions from their findings. Finally the paper considers the options that a global higher education offers the ‘consumer' and challenges the higher education community to examine the degree of adaptation it is prepared to make to ensure a strong diverse higher education system sensitive to market forces.