Dear Colleagues:
Here’s an update on our efforts to grow enrollment, improve retention and help our students successfully complete their degrees. You’ll find a link below for our integrated enrollment plan, one that cuts across not only first-year freshman recruitment, but our broader retention challenge. A few things are worth mentioning.
First, this is the University of Memphis’ first integrated enrollment plan, one that ties the work of our colleges and departments to our central enrollment and retention offices.
Second, the plan emphasizes the importance of retention and offers some specific numeric targets across colleges. The Office of Institutional Research has developed a new tool that allows in-depth examination of student progression across colleges (and years). As you can see, the persistence of the problem is a unique and critical challenge.
Third, we will launch efforts to reward our students directly and in meaningful ways for degree progression, efforts geared toward lowering costs, reducing debt burden, improving efficiency, and helping make degree completion a reality.
Finally, we have a number of initiatives well underway. We are quite active right now, with several additional strategies being explored and implementation decisions to be made in the very near future.
I have great confidence we will not only grow enrollment but strengthen retention in the coming years. Core to our mission is an obligation to help our students not only successfully complete their degrees and launch their futures, but also overcome potential barriers to success. One thing is certain, students learn more effectively, progress more efficiently, and complete their degrees with greater frequency when connected in meaningful ways to faculty and staff. A common variable across all effective retention efforts nationally is the importance of key relationships with faculty and staff. I look forward to working with you to build these relationship and helping our students accomplish great things.
Tigers!
David