%A  Mohammad Noor Salleh
%A  Latifah Abdol Latif
%A  Ramli Bahroom
%A  Zainal Abidin Ahmad
%A  Mohd Jamaludin Muhammad
%J National Centre for E-learning & Distance Learning, Saudi Arabia
%T Counseling : A Retention Initiative in Open University Malaysia
%X Learner support services play a pivotal role in the retention and success of learners in any higher education institution. One particular area of such a service is academic advising and counseling. In Open University Malaysia (OUM), the Counseling Unit which operates under the Centre for Student Affairs
plays a key role in encouraging learners to participate fully in their academic life and going through a
holistic experience while they grow both intellectually and emotionally. One of the strategic thrusts of
OUM for 2005 is learner retention. Presently, the overall learner retention rate stands at approximately
80%. Though the figure is reasonably high, OUM should strive to take proactive measures in minimizing
the barriers to learner retention and increase academic interests. OUM pays particular attention to ?at-
risk? (with a CGPA < 2.0) learners by providing counseling services to help them cope better in their
studies, until completion or graduation. The counseling unit conducts learning skills workshops for ?at-
risk? learners with a view of improving academic performance. The paper reports on (i) the findings of the
workshop with respect to the factors that purportedly affect academic performance; (ii) the modules
developed to help learners overcome their problems; and (iii) the overall effectiveness of the counseling
workshops. The results show that the workshops have been beneficial to ?at-risk? learners and have
helped them improve their academic performance. (Author's abstract)
%D 2006
%K Open University Malaysia ( OUM ) ; student retention ; distance education ; caunseling
%L library_repository55