Staying the Course: Factors Affecting the Progression of Access Foundation Students at Technological University Dublin

This study examined the factors affecting the progression of Access Foundation students to undergraduate studies, as there is little research on the progression of such students in the empirical literature. Access education has been developed for marginalized students who are traditionally under-represented in higher education. A pragmatic, mixed-methods approach was used to determine the factors that affect the progression of Access Foundation students at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) over three academic years (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was analysed using a range of descriptive and inferential statistics. The grounded theory approach recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1990) was adopted for qualitative analysis. Findings revealed that demographic, psychosocial, environmental, institutional and educational factors play a role in students’ progression from Access education to undergraduate studies. Factors such as housemates, attendance and working during the Access programme were found to be predictors of Access student progression in a binary logistic regression. Additionally, progression rates were higher when there was a higher proportion of mature students in the Access programme. Quantitative and qualitative models of Access student progression were developed.