A successful strategy for supporting low socioeconomic and accelerated students studying Biosciences in their first year of study

At our regional University low socioeconomic status (SES) campus, enrolled nurses can enter into the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing. These students, hence, have their first year experience while entering directly into the degree’s second year. A third of these students withdrew from our Bioscience units, and left the University. In an attempt to improve student retention and success, we introduced a strategy involving (i) review lectures in each of the Bioscience disciplines, and subsequently, (ii) “Getting started”, a formative website activity of basic Bioscience concepts, (iii) an ‘O’-week workshop addressing study skills and online resources, and (iv) online tutor support. In addition to being well received, the introduction of the review lectures and full intervention was associated with a significant reduction in student attrition. This successful approach could be used in other low SES areas with accelerated programs for Nursing and may have application beyond this discipline.