| dc.description.abstract | Higher education always draws mounting concerns from students who are about to
seek for reliable institution to study further after graduating from high school. Since the
days of increasing establishment of a variety of universities, students have a plenty of
choices to consider. Noticeably, the number of universities using foreign curriculum is on a
progressively rise, creating an upward trend for students who desire to study in an
international environment within Vietnamese territory. More money saving than studying
abroad and living near family are of common triggers attributed for the strong appeal of
this trend. Nonetheless, regardless of its advantages, the challenges in terms of language,
culture, or curriculum when studying in those universities are posing an inquiry about the
rate of student retention.
The study of student retention is not unusual. In contrast, it has been one of the
most widely – discussed topic for decades (Braxton, 2000). However, this issue is not
seriously concerned in Vietnamese context. Hence, the need of conducting a research
focusing on factor affecting student‟ Intention to persist was recognized by researcher with
the purpose of better informing the results to administrators of universities in order to have
proper strategies to enhance student retention rate.
Five major factors was considered appropriate to exploit in this study, they are
Academic integration, Social integration, Goal and Institutional commitment, Career
outcome expectation, and Social and Cultural capital. The research strictly went through
two main stages, preliminary research and official research. In preliminary research,
qualitative method is employed to adjust and supplement the adapted measurement scales
of various scholars. In official research, quantitative method is used via delivering more
than 300 questionnaires to surveyed targets in five universities.
The findings illustrate the fit of research model with collected data. Six out of eight
hypotheses (revised after EFA) are supported, meaning that six causal relationships do
exist. In respect to Student‟s Intention to persist, Career outcome expectation has strongestxiii
effect on it at a degree of 0.331, followed by the effect of Goal and Institutional
commitment on Intention to persist (0.327). Social and Cultural capital is also confirmed to
have a smaller effect on Intention to persist (0.200). Before affecting to Intention to persist,
Goal and Institutional commitment is affected again by three factors. Academic integration
and Peer interactions have quite similar effect on Goal and Institutional commitment, at a
degree of 0.246 and 0.237 respectively. Faculty concern for student development and
teaching affect Goal and Institutional commitment at a degree of 0.168. Additionally,
Faculty interactions and Foreign cultural capital are proved having no effect on Goal and
Institutional commitment.
Generally, the study reached initial purposes, giving an overall view of the effects
of concerned factors in the model. Some recommendations are made based on the finding
results. Job interview – related classes, career orientation day, academic advising services
or student – centered learning method are suggested to consider for administrators of
universities. Further study direction is also suggested based on researcher‟s point of view.
Finally, limitations and mistakes are definitely inevitable in this study. Subsequent
studies concerning about this issue are wished to have better performance. May this paper
be a source of reference for those interested | en_US |
