During 2014/15 the Union of Students (USI) in Ireland, in partnership with the National Forum, undertook a pilot research project to explore students’ experiences of non-completion in Irish higher education.
This report discusses the views of final year students and graduates who attended a TCD led, multi-institutional one-day workshop on what student success means to them, and what they identified as the facilitators of and barriers to achieving that success. The findings were based on the analysis of four types of inputs for the seminar: written submissions by students on the theme prior to the seminar, student talks, a panel discussion and workshop discussions on the day of the seminar. In order to have a framework to discuss the concept at the seminar, a thematic analysis was performed on the written submissions which students submitted prior to the seminar. Three broad categories of success were identified: academic, personal and social. While initially academic success features predominantly, as students progress through their studies, they develop a more holistic perspective where personal and social success become increasingly important to them. Student success is a broad concept. It is different for and personal to each student and changes with the student’s journey from initial entry to college through to graduation.
