Assessed perceptions of female materials science and engineering graduates on academic advising, student support services and retention strategies

Females currently undertaking STEM-related programs can benefit from knowing about how other females who had been in a similar position as them were able to persevere through the challenges of higher education with the help of advisement and student support services that aim to increasing student retention. While there have been a depth of studies on the development of academic advising, there have been limited studies on this development with respect to the needs of specific marginalized groups. This is the gap in literature that is addressed by this study. The outcomes observed in this study can potentially benefit female students at the institution where the study was conducted. This study focused on the group of female students who were able to successfully complete their STEM-related degrees. A significant difference was found between tutoring and learning support, F = 4.65, sd = .78 and a sig. level = .004. A strong negative relationship existed between the ages of the graduates and assessed academic advisement. A perfect positive relationship existed between the age of the graduates and assessed course concierge service scores; and between the age of the graduates and assessed career services and counseling scores. A moderate negative relationship existed between the age of the graduates and assessed curriculum/degree planning database scores, the age of the graduates and assessed academic and program advisement scores and the age of the graduates and assessed tutorial and learning support services scores. A weak negative relationship existed between the age of the graduates and assessed retention scores.