Chapter 4: What Do Institutions Do to Support Student Success?

English higher education (HE) in 2024 has entered an era of hyper-scrutiny fuelled by political and media critique and reinforced by a tighter regulatory regime. When the focus is not on who ‘gets in’ (access in to HE) or who ‘gets on’ (graduate salaries once in employment), the lens is pointed at what institutions are doing to ensure student success during participation in a course. This chapter will therefore provide an overview of what HE institutions do to support student success – namely to achieve positive and equitable outcomes in continuation, completion, and attainment within a taught course and to enable progression to highly skilled employment or further study after that course has finished. The crux of discussions stems from the pedagogy and practice of learning within a HE institution but also includes support services outside of taught provision. It sounds like a simple task; however, this foundational chapter begins with a critique of language and terminology of what is done under the umbrella of student success, before discussing who is responsible for these ‘participation’ outcomes and how to maintain and improve them across the student lifecycle. A critical perspective on design and implementation follows. This chapter provides context to the forthcoming case studies (Chapters 5 and 6) which provide detailed analysis of the theory – what we hope to achieve – underpinning design and delivery.