France has committed to investing 1 billion Euro in higher education. The investment will include increasing seats in popular academic programs and as many as 60,000 new spots in student residences. The move is designed to increase student success and graduation rates.
I traveled in France, Luxembourg, and Germany in the fall of 2005 to compare practices in supporting students in these three countries. What's interesting is that the model for residence halls at that time was primarily one of comfortable accommodation with little understanding that providing residence halls could impact retention. When I inquired about retention rates, those I met indicated that they did not know and, further, their institutions did not track these numbers. Some of the institutions provided very interesting cross-cultural programming that looked much like what was being done in the U.S.; in many ways it was better because it was often connected with academic programs.
The lesson is that sometimes organic approaches to student development emerge (in international settings) without the explicit attention to research and theorizing. I wonder if France will begin to put implicit good practice together with more explicit attention, thus yielding improved retention and learning outcomes in the coming years.
I traveled in France, Luxembourg, and Germany in the fall of 2005 to compare practices in supporting students in these three countries. What's interesting is that the model for residence halls at that time was primarily one of comfortable accommodation with little understanding that providing residence halls could impact retention. When I inquired about retention rates, those I met indicated that they did not know and, further, their institutions did not track these numbers. Some of the institutions provided very interesting cross-cultural programming that looked much like what was being done in the U.S.; in many ways it was better because it was often connected with academic programs.
The lesson is that sometimes organic approaches to student development emerge (in international settings) without the explicit attention to research and theorizing. I wonder if France will begin to put implicit good practice together with more explicit attention, thus yielding improved retention and learning outcomes in the coming years.
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