Can Facebook lower uni drop-out rates?

Does Facebook make it starting university an easier process? Researchers at the University of Leicester are trying to find out whether social networking sites can help the transition to university and minimise the chances of new students quitting their courses.

Currently, 95% of 16 to 18-year-olds planning on going to university use sites such as Facebook and MySpace, but, according to Jane Wellens of Leicester University, ‘we know little about how this phenomenon impacts on the student experience and, in particular, if and how it helps them integrate into university life’.

Drop-out rates remain a concern for many universities, with more than one in five of the 230,000 full-time students entering university each year - an estimated 50,000 – quitting before graduating. Furthermore, around 28,000 leave in the first year.

Social integration into university life is one of the key factors stopping students from leaving without qualifications. Until now most research in the field has concentrated on academic support rather the social aspect of university life.

The researchers hope to find out whether Leicester students join the University’s Facebook network before the start their studies, and whether this makes any difference to how they settle into their new life.

They will also ask whether the University can use social network to help the students make the transition to university, and their results are expected to influence university policies at Leicester and perhaps beyond.

Dr Wellens commented: "One outcome might be that the University would use these sites to bring new students together before their arrival, or to bring together current and new students to provide peer support. It will also ascertain students' views about the ways in which the University and its staff should, or shouldn't, use Facebook for academic purposes."