University of Sussex named best for student retention

The university, which has more than 14,000 full-time undergraduates, has a drop out rate less than half the expected level – five per cent compared with a benchmark of 10.1 per cent.

The University of the Year for Student Retention award in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022 singles out the university as the best in the country for supporting students to stay the course and complete their degrees.

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The editor of the guide Alastair McCall said has set up a support package for students identified as being the most risk of dropping out or repeating a year.

“A supportive student environment keeps the dropout rate at Sussex at around half of its expected level, saving hundreds of student careers and millions of pounds,” he said.

“Sector-leading support for students during the pandemic also stood out in making Sussex our University of the Year for Student Retention.

“Good levels of academic and financial support help form a safety net of support through which it is hard for students to fall, more than living up to the university’s stated values of collaboration, courage, kindness, inclusion and integrity.”

The University of Sussex vice-chancellor Adam Tickell

The University of Sussex vice-chancellor Adam Tickell said the award is vindication for all at the university who works tirelessly to help students achieve their goals, whatever their background or circumstances.

“Building aspiration in students who may not have considered university is a good start, but we know that our role as an educator doesn’t end there,” he said.

“This is why we invest heavily on in-course support, so we can fulfil our commitments to those students and put structures in place for them to succeed.

“We are proud of all the students and staff who continue to prove that a life-changing education can be - and should be - available to everyone.”

The university’s Learn to Transform strategy makes students partners in the big decisions that face the university, while their new Student Connectors initiative employs students to work directly with staff and students.

During the pandemic, the university also introduced a support package for self-isolating students, waived rents for students who returned home and adjusted assessments so the impacts of the pandemic upon studies were mitigated.