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This paper aims to demonstrate the variety of ways institutions and their libraries approach student success both conceptionally and operationally.

Librarians from nine different institutions of higher education were given a series of questions about student success on their campuses and in their libraries. They responded with written essays describing their experiences and perspectives.

The contributed pieces are collected together and display a shared interest in defining “student success,” aligning strategic planning with student success initiatives and establishing (and assessing) strong infrastructure to support student success.

These examples help us observe what is happening throughout higher education and see potential paths forward at our own institutions engaged in this work.

This paper aims to demonstrate the variety of ways institutions and their libraries approach student success both conceptionally and operationally.

Librarians from eight different institutions of higher education were given a series of questions about student success on their campuses and in their libraries. They responded with written essays describing their experiences and perspectives.

The contributed pieces in this second installment are collected together and a variety of ways the academic library engage with “student success” are discussed. Initiatives include high-impact practices, fostering academic rapport and creating a sense of belonging, experiential learning and creative spaces and professional development.

These examples help to observe what is happening throughout higher education and see potential paths forward at the institutions engaged in this work.

This study explored graduate students' academic success by testing a hypothesized model based on the self-determination theory (SDT), which posits that motivation, time management and career aspiration predicts perceived success.

A quantitative methodology was employed to garner data from a population of 324 graduate students, and then analyzed using structural equation modeling in R.

Intrinsic motivation was the strongest motivation type that predicted graduate students' perceived success. Time management was another important predictor of perceived success, while career aspiration did not impact students' perception of success. Doctoral students showed significantly higher relatedness when compared to master degree students. In addition, male students showed significantly higher career aspirations than females, while female students showed significantly higher time management than their male counterparts. The results of this study support the SDT as a framework to understand graduate students' academic success.

Implementing the research findings may increase graduate students' academic success. This study suggests direct ways of increasing graduate students' achievement through intrinsic motivation, time management and autonomy, as well as reducing amotivation (lack of motivation) to indirectly enhance academic success.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relative impact of achievement press on student success in elementary schools in the Southwestern USA.

Data from individual teacher assessments and student achievement tests are collected and aggregated at the campus level. Hierarchical linear modeling is utilized to calculate the Intra Class Correlation (ICC), then campus level scores for achievement press (along with control variables) are regressed on school success indicators in order to determine the relative impact of achievement press on various levels of school attainment.

The results of these analyses demonstrate that achievement press made a statistically significant independent contribution to school success, both near term (one year) and longitudinally (over three years).

Via the use of a reliable and valid diagnostic tool, this investigation adds to the extant literature on school climate, achievement, and school effectiveness.

This study provides important information for educational leaders interested in improving both school climate and student achievement. Practical concerns about socioeconomic status and administrator longevity are also addressed.

This research validates the usefulness of achievement press as a concise multi‐level school climate measure. To that end, this study both demonstrates that achievement press makes an impact on school level success and adds to a growing body of literature connecting specific campus climate variables directly to student achievement.

This study was based on the perceptions of lecturers and black CTA students at Unisa, a South African distance education university regarding on factors that contribute to black students’ academic success and failure. The main purposes of the study were to help black CTA students to understand the reasons for success and failure better, and to improve lecturers’ teaching approach(es). The research shows that students and lecturers have divergent views on what factors contribute to academic success or failure and the relative importance of the various factors.

Purpose – This chapter identifies the reasons why institutions need to undertake transformation to engage a diverse student population: it presents a model of student retention and success, which centres on student engagement pre- and post-entry.

Methodology/approach – The chapter overviews the literature on student retention and success and utilises emerging findings from the meta-analysis of the What works? Student retention and success programme.

Findings – The emerging model puts student engagement at the heart of student retention and success. Institutions should promote engagement by•Provision of a range of opportunities for student engagement of different types, at different levels, across the institution in different sites (academic sphere, social sphere and professional services sphere), throughout the student lifecycle.•Developing students to recognise the importance of engagement and to have the capacity to engage in a range of opportunities.•Developing staff responsibility for and capacity to provide effective engagement opportunities.•Taking responsibility for engagement, including monitoring engagement and acting when there are indicators of lower levels of engagement.•Creating a partnership between students and institutions towards a shared outcome of successful learners and graduates.

Research limitations – This chapter draws on emergent findings from the What works? programme.

Practical implications – This chapter assists institutions to improve student retention and success by focusing on engagement and institutional culture.

Social implications – The model assists institutions to critically consider transformation to engage a diverse student population and improve retention and success.

Originality/value – The chapter pre-views original research about engagement, retention and success, which are international concerns.

Given declining tuition funds and government grants, Kenyan universities need to develop strategies, including increased research grants and collaborations, to diversify their income sources. Well-managed doctoral students can boost a university’s teaching and research outputs. However, numbers of students enrolled in doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities are low, and graduation rates and time-to-graduate statistics are disturbing. Research undertaken elsewhere underline the important role played by supervisors and peers in facilitating students’ sense of belonging and their success. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of supervisory and peer support on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success at Kenyan universities.

In this cross-sectional study, data were gathered through an online questionnaire from 614 students admitted to doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities between 2010 and 2018. We used multi-item scales to collect data on PhD students’ self-efficacy, supervisory and peer support and a sense of belonging.

Structural equation modelling results revealed that PhD students’ modes of study and self-efficacy were significantly associated with the quality of supervision, peer support and a sense of belonging. However, only age, a sense of belonging and the quality of supervision were directly linked to their success.

This study contributes to the literature on doctoral-level education, responding to the need for research on the influence of relationships with supervisors and peers on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success, especially in developing countries.

This paper aims to examine the issues of underrepresentation and barriers that impede Pasifika students’ achievement and success in tertiary accounting education.

The participants of the study were the second- and third-year students from the “Pasifika” ethnic community enrolled in undergraduate accounting degree papers. The first stage of data were collected through face-to-face questionnaire survey and quantitatively analysed. Further data were collected through focus group meetings held as “talona” sessions and analysed using descriptive narrative, to capture the lived experience of the students.

The findings of the study suggest that low self-efficacy beliefs, low self-regulation and culturally unresponsive pedagogical practices negatively impact on Pasifika student success in accounting education. Better student engagement; use of culturally responsive pedagogy; utilisation of internal assessment tools; and more strategic use of group work could help enhance the retention and success of Pasifika students in accounting programmes. The findings also suggest that the institutional support framework for Pasifika students’ needs to be more responsive to proactively help develop their self-efficacy and self-regulation learning needs.

This research makes a significant contribution by informing accounting educators, support staff, tertiary institutions and other stakeholders including Pasifika students, of potential challenges faced by Pasifika students in completing a tertiary accounting qualification. The findings have the potential to assist in the design and implementation of actionable strategies to enhance the retention and success rates for students from this group.

This research complements earlier studies on barriers faced by students from disadvantaged communities in gaining tertiary qualifications and looks specifically at challenges faced by Pasifika students in gaining an accounting qualification.

This study aimed to examine the influence of psychological capital on the students' academic success in a PhD journey in Tanzania.

A cross-sectional survey design was used and data were collected through structured questionnaires from 200 PhD students in Tanzania. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the measurement model. The hypotheses were empirically tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The findings affirm that psychological capital in terms of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism are significant predictors of students' academic success in a PhD journey.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is among the first to comprehensively examine the influence of psychological capital on students' academic success in PhD studies. Previous studies have primarily focused on the undergraduate level. Additionally, this study extends the applicability of conservation of resource (COR) theory to the context of PhD students, demonstrating that psychological capital serves as a crucial resource for them to achieve success in their PhD studies.

Academic success and failure are relevant lifelines for economic success in the knowledge-based economy. The purpose of this paper is to predict the propensity of students’ academic performance using early detection indicators (i.e. age, gender, high school exam scores, region, CGPA) to allow for timely and efficient remediation.

A machine learning approach was used to develop a model based on secondary data obtained from students’ information system in a Nigerian university.

Results revealed that age is not a predictor for academic success (high CGPA); female students are 1.2 times more likely to have high CGPA compared to their male counterparts; students with high JAMB scores are more likely to achieve academic success, high CGPA and vice versa; students from affluent and developed regions are more likely to achieve academic success, high CGPA and vice versa; and students in Years 3 and 4 are more likely to achieve academic success, high CGPA.

This predictive model serves as a classifier and useful strategy to mitigate failure, promote success and better manage resources in tertiary institutions.