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In recent years, a decline in employment rates has been observed among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates in South Korea, influenced by diverse factors, including economic, social, and policy-related factors. Understanding the reasons behind this decline in STEM employment requires an exploration of academic persistence intentions in STEM and their interconnected relationships with relevant factors. This study aimed to comprehensively examine differences in academic persistence intentions, environmental factors, achievement-related factors, and career motivation among 2393 STEM undergraduates in Korea. Furthermore, this study investigated the factors affecting academic persistence intentions. Data were analyzed using different statistical methods, including factorial multivariate analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple regression models conducted by adding variables of interest. The findings revealed significant differences in academic persistence intentions, environmental factors, achievement-related factors, and career motivation as perceived by STEM undergraduates, based on individual background and university characteristics. Moreover, 53.9% of academic persistence intentions were explained by 10 variables (gender, career direction after graduation, career field to enter after graduation, start period of career path preparation [career-related factors], contextual supports and career barriers [environmental factors], engineering self-efficacy, outcome expectations, major interest [achievement-related factors], and career motivation). Specifically, career motivation contributed the most to the academic persistence intentions of STEM undergraduates, followed by engineering self-efficacy and career barriers. The findings underscore the necessity for customized educational and policy support, considering individual background and university characteristics, to effectively address the challenges faced by STEM graduates in the changing employment landscape.

In a nationally representative sample, first-year U.S. college students \"somewhat agree,\" on average, that they feel like they belong at their school. However, belonging varies by key institutional and student characteristics; of note, racialethnic minority and first-generation students report lower belonging than peers at 4-year schools, while the opposite is true at 2-year schools. Further, at 4-year schools, belonging predicts better persistence, engagement, and mental health even after extensive covariate adjustment. Although descriptive, these patterns highlight the need to better measure and understand belonging and related psychological factors that may promote college students' success and well-being.

Study success includes the successful completion of a first degree in higher education to the largest extent, and the successful completion of individual learning tasks to the smallest extent. Factors affecting study success range from individual dispositions (e.g., motivation, prior academic performance) to characteristics of the educational environment (e.g., attendance, active learning, social embeddedness). Recent developments in learning analytics, which are a socio-technical data mining and analytic practice in educational contexts, show promise in enhancing study success in higher education, through the collection and analysis of data from learners, learning processes, and learning environments in order to provide meaningful feedback and scaffolds when needed. This research reports a systematic review focusing on empirical evidence, demonstrating how learning analytics have been successful in facilitating study success in continuation and completion of students’ university courses. Using standardised steps of conducting a systematic review, an initial set of 6220 articles was identified. The final sample includes 46 key publications. The findings obtained in this systematic review suggest that there are a considerable number of learning analytics approaches which utilise effective techniques in supporting study success and students at risk of dropping out. However, rigorous, large-scale evidence of the effectiveness of learning analytics in supporting study success is still lacking. The tested variables, algorithms, and methods collected in this systematic review can be used as a guide in helping researchers and educators to further improve the design and implementation of learning analytics systems.

The emerging interest in grit, referred to as sustained perseverance and passion for reaching long-term goals and conceptualized as a facet of conscientiousness, has shown that language-specific grit is positively linked to foreign language (FL) achievement. Evidence from recent studies on intended effort and academic buoyancy―constructs conceptually related to grit―suggests that they also play a meaningful role in FL learning. Drawing on the framework for noncognitive factors in academic performance and academic perseverance in particular, this study examines grit and its conceptual correlates. A total of 360 FL learners responded to a survey assessing their FL grit, conscientiousness, intended effort, and buoyancy. The results demonstrated that grit largely overlapped with intended effort but was found to be conceptually distinct from buoyancy and the industriousness facet of conscientiousness. Contrary to previous research, the consistency-of-interest facet of grit demonstrated superior predictive and incremental validity with regard to FL achievement compared to the perseverance-of-effort facet. The findings suggest that the role of academic perseverance in FL learning is a fruitful area of investigation that merits further exploration and research.

Learning a second/foreign language (L2) is a long process and L2 learners certainly will encounter setbacks and discouragements during this process. However, their reactions to these failures might be different based on their perceptions of L2 learning ability and their subsequent effort put into L2 learning. Based on this, the present study aimed at exploring two underresearched constructs within the field of applied linguistics, namely grit (continuous effort and interest for long-term goals) and language mindset (individuals’ perceptions of their language learning ability). We had five main aims: to examine (a) the factor structure of grit, (b) the factor structure of language mindset, (c) whether there are gender differences in grit or language mindset, (d) the relationships between language mindset and grittiness, and (e) the roles of grit and language mindset as predictors of L2 achievement. To address these aims, a total number of 1,178 university students who were taking general English courses took part in our study and completed the questionnaires. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the two-factor structure for both grit and language mindset fit the data better than the single-factor structure. We also tested several structural equation models and found that a growth language mindset weakly, but positively, predicted one component of grit (perseverance of effort, or POE), but not the other (consistency of interest, or COI). A fixed language mindset did not predict POE, but did negatively predict COI. Finally, only growth language mindset was a weak, positive predictor of L2 achievement. At the end, theoretical and pedagogical implications regarding the role of grit and language mindset in L2 learning are presented.

While college education is a key to upward mobility, low-income students are substantially less likely to earn bachelor's degrees than their more economically advantaged peers. Prior higher education literature illuminates various factors contributing to student success, but few studies consider the role of family support after students enter higher education. We examine how two different forms of family support—emotional and financial—are related to academic outcomes (grades, credit accumulation, and persistence) among low-income college students. Our analyses, based on a sample of 728 first-year low-income students attending eight four-year institutions, indicate that family emotional support plays an important role in fostering positive academic outcomes. Family emotional support is beneficial for academic outcomes as it promotes psychological well-being and facilitates greater student engagement. Financial support is not related to the outcomes examined in the sample as a whole. However, interaction models point to variation by first-generations status wherein continuing-generation students benefit more from family financial support than their first-generation peers. Presented findings offer valuable insights into the role of families in supporting low-income students in college and can inform institutional policies and practices aimed at facilitating their success.

Despite academics’ enthusiasm about the concept of grit (defined as consistency of interest and perseverance of effort), its benefit for academic achievement has recently been challenged. Drawing from a longitudinal sample (N = 2018; 55.3% female; sixth–nineth grades) from Finland, this study first aimed to investigate and replicate the association between grit and achievement outcomes (i.e., academic achievement and engagement). Further, the present study examined whether growth mindset and goal commitment impacted grit and whether grit acted as a mediator between growth mindset, goal commitment, and achievement outcomes. The results showed that the perseverance facet of grit in the eighth grade was associated with school achievement and engagement in the nineth grade, after controlling for students’ conscientiousness, academic persistence, prior achievement and engagement, gender and SES, although the effect on engagement was stronger than on achievement. In addition, grit was predicted by goal commitment in the sixth grade, but not by the growth mindset in the sixth grade. Finally, the perseverance of effort (not the consistency of interest) mediated the effect of goal commitment on engagement. These findings suggest that grit is associated with increased engagement and academic achievement; and practitioners who wish to improve grit of adolescents may encourage goal commitment more than growth mindset.

Considering the pivotal role of academic adjustment for student success, it is important to gain insight into how several motivational and behavioural factors affect academic adjustment and the extent to which academic adjustment influences student success. This empirical study investigated how intrinsic motivation, academic self-efficacy, self-regulated study behaviour and satisfaction with the chosen degree programme influenced academic adjustment in university and how these variables and adjustment affected three important indicators of student success: grade point average (GPA), attained number of credits (ECTS) and intention to persist. The sample consisted of 243 first-year university students in the Netherlands. Structural equation modelling showed that academic adjustment was influenced by intrinsic motivation, self-regulated study behaviour and degree programme satisfaction, which together explained 72% of the variance in adjustment. Motivational and behavioural variables did not influence GPA and credits directly but through academic adjustment. Furthermore, only satisfaction with the degree programme predicted intention to persist. These results point to the importance of academic adjustment in predicting university GPA and credits and the pivotal role of satisfaction with the degree programme in predicting intention to persist. Universities could integrate the development of self-regulated study skills—the biggest contributor to academic adjustment—in the first-year programme. Moreover, looking at the importance of students' satisfaction with the programme, communication and collaboration between secondary schools and universities should be enhanced in order to help students to choose a university degree programme that matches their abilities, interests and values.

Informed by the theoretical lens of opportunity hoarding, this study considers whether STEM postsecondary fields stand apart via the disproportionate exclusion of Black and Latina/o youth. Utilizing national data from the Beginning Postsecondary Study (BPS), the authors investigate whether Black and Latina/o youth who begin college as STEM majors are more likely to depart than their White peers, either by switching fields or by leaving college without a degree, and whether patterns of departure in STEM fields differ from those in non-STEM fields. Results reveal evidence of persistent racial/ethnic inequality in STEM degree attainment not found in other fields.

The provision of grant aid is important to students’ postsecondary opportunities and success. It is well established that grant aid increases the probability of enrollment in postsecondary education. A slate of studies in recent years has extended this research to examine whether grant aid also has an impact on persistence and degree attainment. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the best available evidence of the effect of grant aid on postsecondary persistence and degree attainment. The systematic review identifies and describes the landscape of the literature on grant aid programs and their effects on postsecondary success. A meta-analysis of 43 studies yielding 75 effect sizes estimates that grant aid increases the probability of student persistence and degree completion between 2 and 3 percentage points. When considering the dollar amount of aid, we estimate an additional $1,000 of grant aid improves persistence and attainment by 1.5 to 2 percentage points. Suggestions for future research and implications for policy are discussed.