Academic numeracy and first year undergraduate studies across six regional universities

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary investigation into first year undergraduate students’ progress in academic numeracy studies across six Australian regional universities. The paper analyses a survey of university teachers, follow-up interviews and secondary academic numeracy data. Initial findings are presented in terms of the nature of academic numeracy required in the subjects offered and support strategies provided. The study suggests that support services are not contributing well to attrition in subjects requiring academic numeracy. Some effects are due to the diversity of the student body and further research is needed on both localised and cross-university approaches that focus on student’s goals and personal agency.