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Multifactorial risk in attrition and retention of undergraduate students: an ecological systems theory perspective
Journal article

Multifactorial risk in attrition and retention of undergraduate students: an ecological systems theory perspective

Geoff Woolcott, Michael Charles, Robyn Keast and Daniel Chamberlain
Educational research for policy and practice, Vol.First online
01/12/2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-025-09406-w

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Abstract

retention attrition engagement undergraduate education higher education social network analysis ecological systems theory
Studies of academic risk have highlighted the importance of the multiple factors that together contribute to completion in undergraduate university courses and, conversely, to attrition. Addressing the current under-theorization of academic risk as both multifactorial, and potentially multidimensional, this study combines ecological systems and social network theories to examine the potential of social ecology networks in providing novel methodologies for identification of academic risk. Employing a single case study approach, the study uses social ecology networks to examine a large archive of behavioral data related to a diverse demographic of 4,065 undergraduate students at an Australian regional university. The study offers new conceptual insights into the potential of social ecology networks to provide a student-centered and place-based identification of factors relevant to studies of undergraduate education, circumventing issues of system generalization. The findings provide a new method of examining the duality of risk and opportunity and the relationship of this duality to engagement as well as opening a door to further investigation that may determine how social ecology networks can be used to promote engagement and mitigate the risk of attrition.

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