Page 57 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij
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Chapter 3
3.1.3 The current study
Following from this, with the current systematic review of research on factors in uencing rst-year students’ success in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders, we seek to obtain a comprehensive picture of Dutch and Flemish student success correlates in the rst year of higher education and possible di erences between these countries, between professional education and university education, and based on the outcome variable that is used as a measure of student success. is brings us to the following two research questions that are central in this review study:
1. Which factors are important correlates of rst-year student success in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders?
2. Are there any notable di erences between the Netherlands and Flanders; between professional education and university education; and based on the outcome variable (GPA, EC, or persistence)?
In addition, we aim to identify limitations and gaps in the current body of
research on rst-year success in the Netherlands and Flanders, in order to make recommendations for future research in the eld of higher education in these countries.
3.2 Theoretical background
e conceptual framework that serves as a starting point for this review is based on an input-throughput-output model, as for instance used by Jansen and Bruinsma (2005). is type of model also underlies Tinto’s interactionalist theory (Tinto, 1993), Braxton, Milem, and Sullivan’s revision of Tinto’s theory (2000) in which they re ned elements in the model, and it can even be imposed on Biggs’ 3P-model (presage, process, and product), although Biggs placed learning environment characteristics in the rst group of factors, while we account them to the second group of factors (Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001). e model states that students start their studies with certain entry characteristics (input) such as ability, demographic factors, and prior education. We list these under the term ‘student factors’. During the rst year, students interact with and experience a certain learning environment (throughput). Under this, we gather characteristics and perceptions of the learning environment as well as factors related to students’
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