The student journey: dropouts

One of the phases in the student journey is called 'the dropouts'. Educational institutions put a lot of effort into information activities such as open days, information sessions, and websites to promote their courses. A lot of attention is also paid to the process after registration through individual or group intakes or a trial day, during which the registered potential student gets to know the educational institution and the program better. But not every potential student who has attended your information activities will ultimately choose your program.

Every potential student ultimately makes a final choice. This could be a program at your educational institution, a program at a competitor, a gap year, or a decision to enter the job market. As a result, the final enrollment figures for your educational institution for each program will only be known at the start of the new academic year (mid-September/October), at which point the balance can be calculated.

Did you know that...

On average, 28% of applications submitted by educational institutions are not converted into definitive enrolments? And that those who withdraw their applications have often had no personal contact, while those who enrol have almost always attended an open day or taster day?

Research into people who cancel their subscriptions

Markteffect educational institutions the opportunity to gain insight into the motives of those who cancel their registration, i.e., potential students who, after registering (for a course, open house, etc.), ultimately did not confirm their registration by starting that specific course at your educational institution.

During the past academic year, Markteffect mapped out Markteffect motives of those who withdrew from 23 educational institutions in secondary vocational education, higher professional education, and university education. These studies revealed that the provision of information, the open house (and the reasons for visiting or not visiting), as well as the process between registration and withdrawal are of great importance. After all, a lot can happen between registration and withdrawal during the student journey, which may cause a registrant to disregard their registration.

In the dropout surveys we conduct for individual educational institutions or programs, we work together to find answers to the following questions, among others:

Why were those who withdrew initially interested in the relevant course at your educational institution?
What steps did those who withdrew take to explore other options after enrolling in this program at your educational institution?
Which program and educational institution did those who withdrew ultimately choose?
Why did those who withdrew choose this program?
Why did those who withdrew choose this educational institution?
If those who dropped out did not enroll in further education, why did they choose to do so?
When did those who withdrew make the decision not to pursue the program in question?
What were the main reasons for those who withdrew to drop out? And what was the decisive reason?
What could the educational institution have done to encourage people to opt out of the program in question?
How did those who withdrew from the program experience the process from registration to placement?
What are the characteristics of those who have opted out? (For example: profile, gender, age, place of residence, desire to move into student housing or not)

Telephone surveys are almost always used to interview those who have opted out. Telephone surveys are a suitable method for this type of research because field workers can ask follow-up questions about the actual motives, barriers, opinions, and areas for improvement of those who have opted out, thereby gaining in-depth insights.

Markteffect trained, field-force certified (MOA) field workers to approach and administer the questionnaire to those who have opted out. These field workers have extensive experience in surveying pupils and students for education-related research.

The ideal time to conduct a survey of people who have canceled their subscriptions is during the months of September, October, and November.