‘Why don’t they engage?’ A review of the factors influencing first year business students’ active disengagement and a short research agenda’

This presentation explores the experiences of undergraduates at Solent Business school who chose to leave business management degrees in their first year. Although a number of factors have been identified in the literature for students’ attrition in universities in general, why some of Solent University’s first-year undergraduates fail to progress is yet to be fully understood. By focusing on their lived experiences, this presentation (and a proposed study) capture which factors influence both their disengagement and decision to drop out of university before their second year. We discuss the institutional implications of our findings.