Keeping students is priority for future
“Retention is so important, when a new student comes here, we want Javelina nation to feel like their home,” Chief of Performance Excellence and Strategy Dr. Kristina Wilson said.
With the overall goal of 10k students by 2028, recruitment is very important but retaining current students as well is top priority. In pursuing a rise in retention Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) has gone the extra mile to ensure these numbers rise and that students are happy and feel they are in the right place to further their education.
“Something that we are doing systematically is implementing a framework from the four disciplines of execution, it is new to our new university, and we are the first to implement this model throughout the university,” Wilson said.
This new framework allows all the departments of the university to work collaboratively and tackle any issue the university may face. Using the four disciplines of execution (4DX), TAMUK has focused on keeping students enrolled and has been monitoring overall enrollment, the number of new students who are coming in and how each department is retaining students. With each department using 4DX in different ways, it helps the university as a whole by keeping students in classrooms and giving those who may be struggling a boost in confidence and instill in them a bigger passion for what they may be studying and strive to be the best they can be during their time as a student, after they graduate and going into the field of their choosing.
From a student standpoint, the outreach from the respective departments has been noticeable and could become more successful as time goes on.
“By keeping an interactive and versatile department for students to thrive and continue their education, this could attract not only new students to attend TAMUK, but this could inspire current students to continue to study here,” student of the Department of Physics and Geosciences and junior Cameron Pegram said.
Pegram, a transfer from Del Mar College, has enjoyed the environment TAMUK has to offer and sees 4DX as a successful method to retain students and make the university better.
“This could provide new approaches on funding for various departments while continuing to develop new ways of retaining students and keeping a high reputation,” Pegram added.
Using data collected by the university, it has given the faculty a base to go from in terms of how many students they have retained and if there are any struggles students may have, possibly in the transitional period between their first and second years of attending university.
From the fall of 2023 to the current semester the university has retained 65% of first-time students which, depending on the success of 4DX, could see an increase following the conclusion of the 2024 fall semester.
“With a successful framework like this, I feel like this will help bolster the university and with future students seeing how others enjoy studying here, it will inspire them to want to attend and study at TAMUK,” sophomore Camden Ramos said.