Explaining student success in engineering education in Delft University of Technology: A synthesis of literature

Student success is among the most widely researched areas in tertiary education. The generalizability of research in this field is problematic due to cultural and structural differences between countries, institutions and programmes where research is done. Engineering education in the Netherlands has not been studied in depth so far. In this paper outcomes of studies done outside and inside engineering and outside and inside the Netherlands are discussed to understand the complexity of retention issues. Although generalizability is an issue, there are a number of concepts and variables that surface in many of these studies. These include students’ background and disposition variables, education attributes, variables concerning educational climate and student behaviour. In the paper it is argued how these variables are related and how a university can apply the outcomes of research in this field of study.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen