Student Engagement and College Outcomes

Abstract

　 The tendency to focus on college outcomes is becoming stronger within the wider framework of a trend toward universal access to higher education, quality assurance, and so on. However how college outcomes are linked with student characteristics, quality of education and student learning behavior has not been fully studied in Japan. On the basis of a student survey, this paper examines three issues : 1）After consideration is given to students’ pre-entry characteristics, are their cognitive outcomes regulated by the structural characteristics of a university or by the characteristics of its programs? 2）Are their cognitive outcomes more affected by the characteristics of a university program than by the university’s structural characteristics? 3）Does student engagement have the most powerful impact on cognitive outcomes? The paper also discusses the limitations and the problems of an analytical method and approach based on a student survey when considering college outcomes. In conclusion, it is recommended that particular notice is taken of student engagement as the most important factor influencing college outcomes rather than the college outcomes themselves.