The Irish Higher Education system has undergone significant structural change in the past three years, culminating in the re-designation of the majority of the Institutes of Technology (IoTs) as Technological Universities (TUs). Following a process of amalgamation, a pre-cursor to re-designation, only two of the fourteen IoTs remain, alongside five TUs. This change effectively erased the binary divide in Irish HE.

The Technological University Research Network report described the nature of future TUs as follows:

'establishing high-quality higher education institutions (HEIs) of scale that build an international profile for technological higher education, intensify the mission, purpose and values of Institutes of Technology (IoTs) to achieve sufficient scale, quality and impact to drive regional economic, social and cultural development' (HEA, TURN, 2019, p.4).

Technological Universities and the Technological Higher Education sector provides HE programmes from Higher Certificate to Doctoral level. The sector is characterised by strong regional connectedness, serving a relatively high proportion of part-time and flexible learners, as well as traditional full-time undergraduate students. Historically, it would also have served a high proportion of students who were first in their families to attend HE. 

Higher Education in Ireland receives significant funding from the State, which uses student progression and retention figures (HEA, 2019) as one of the key indicators of system and institute performance. While what constitutes good or poor retention depends on comparators, such figures are typically used as a barometer against which to consider Institute and country performance (Gabi and Sharpe, 2021). 

The research sought to investigate the thorny issue of retention in an Irish IoT, which was subsequently re-designated as a Technological University.The aim of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to persistence in an IoT, by investigating how persistence decisions were made by students, and how these decisions were informed by their HE expectations and experiences. It explored the role of the student and the role of the institute in achieving successful outcomes. 

The research questions were:

1. What identifiable factors contribute to persistence in higher education? And to what extent does programme choice, if at all, influence persistence and programme completion?
2. How and under what conditions (e.g. institutional, cultural, socio-personal, programmatic etc) do these factors become manifest within the context of Irish Higher Education and specifically within the context of programmes that are typical of the Institutes of Technology?
3. How do students stated intentions to study, goals and objectives influence their persistence throughout the duration of a programme of study in an Institute of Technology? To what extent, if at all, do these objectives change or become modified during their engagement with the Institute?   
4. From a student perspective, how does, if at all, motivation and expectations of 1) themselves and 2) the Institute change over the course of the programme of study?

The research explored persistence across a heterogeneous student body, rather than with the intention of dis-aggregating the findings by a particular student type. James (2015) refers to the ‘species’ approach to the study of students, for example, mature students, online students. The research aimed to identify common themes or differences among a student body that would typically be found on programmes in the Technological Higher Education sector, and abstract these findings to a wider student body. It amalgamates the theoretical perspectives of Vincent Tinto (1975, 1993, 2012) and Pierre Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1984, 1988; Grenfell, 2014; Grenfell and James, 1998). The work of both authors has been described as paradigmatic, and while they are associated with different aspects of HE, there is common ground in the areas of congruence, fit and the ability to feel like a fish in water. 

The research required an insight into the worldview of students, who are likely to perceive the same situation in different ways, based on their own experiences. It was grounded in a constructivist paradigm (Crotty, 1998; Creswell and Creswell, 2018; Punch, 2014). The research was conducted using a single case study, employing mixed methods. As an insider researcher in the case institute, issues of reflexivity (Pillow, 2003, 2010) and ethics were given due consideration. The case study included full-time on campus, part-time online and degree based apprenticeship students, all of whom had completed at least one year of study; many were in their final year. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with small groups of up to three participants, as well as individuals. The interview schedule was informed by areas of interest from the literature, particularly the model of Tinto (1975, 1993, 2012, 2017). Questions were developed to seek the research participants views about their engagement with the Institute, reasons for study, future intentions, as well as exploring their expectations and experiences. A total of twenty one participants from across the relevant programmes provided balanced representation of each of the programme types. Interview data was generated over a period of 18 months and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2019, 2021). Themes were constructed using a dual approach of manual coding and theme development, which was enhanced by the use of NVivo. In order to provide additional context for the interview data, a questionnaire was designed using Qualtrics software and distributed to all students of the case institute who were registered on relevant programmes. A response rate of 11% represented 355 students, the majority of whom were full time on campus and of traditional age. This provided an interesting contrast to the interview data and was also a means of triangulation. The use of mixed methods highlighted the advantages and limitations of both research instruments, both in a general context and in the specific context of the phenomenon of persistence.

The findings are presented under three themes: Getting the Degree Navigating the Higher Education Environment Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom. These three core themes have several sub-themes, which provide insight into the student experience and the manner in which they perceive the HE environment. They were used to develop a model of the student journey, based on the model of Tinto (1975, 1993) and the concepts of social and cultural capital that are associated with Bourdieu (1984, 1988). The case study findings demonstrate that the classroom, whether on campus or online, was the nucleus for connection and support. The factors linked to the student and the Institute, that contribute to persistence in HE are as follows: Student - Clear End Goal and Intention for Study Perceived Relevance of Programme to End Goal Ability or willingness to adapt to the culture and practices of the HE environment Self-efficacy and motivation Institute- Provision of an enabling learning environment Programme design that aligns pedagogy and assessment with programme aims and student profile Programme choice was found to be important insofar as students believed that it would serve their own identified needs and allow them to achieve their goals. I found that academic integration is more important than social integration and that goal commitment is more important than institute commitment for the students at programme level. Academic integration and goal commitment will compensate for a lower amount of social integration and institute commitment, but not the other way around. Cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984, 1988) is more important than social capital in adapting to the culture and practices of HE, but importantly, social capital was employed by students in creating their own networks of support from within their peer groups.

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