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Full-Text Articles in Education

Skills And Student Affairs: A Discourse Analysis, Shannon Mckechnie Oct 2018

Skills And Student Affairs: A Discourse Analysis, Shannon Mckechnie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Media, industry, and other public actors have claimed that a ‘skills gap’ exists in students exiting post-secondary education and entering the workforce. The Ontario provincial government has developed policy, the Highly Skilled Workforce Strategy, to provide directives to universities in the province to provide skills development to students to aid in closing the gap and providing a workplace relevant education. In this study, I explore the experiences of student affairs and services (SAS) staff responsible for enacting provincial policy related to skills development at the university level by investigating the discourses that shape policy and practices of these staff …


Undergraduate Student Retention: Using Leader Member Exchange As An Organizational Change Driver, Joe Stokes Jun 2018

Undergraduate Student Retention: Using Leader Member Exchange As An Organizational Change Driver, Joe Stokes

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

University student retention is one of the most studied enrolment management concepts in academia, with large amounts of theoretical and empirical research that has influenced campuses around the world (Astin, 1993; Habley, Bloom & Robins, 2012; Swail, 2004; Tinto, 1987). Although the considerations surrounding student retention are many and complex, the definition of retention is fairly straightforward. Berger, Ramirez, and Lyons, (2012) defines retention as “the ability of an institution to retain a student from admission through graduation” (p.5). This organizational improvement plan will discuss student retention in the context of a problem of practice at a Canadian university. Specifically, …