Students’ Perceptions of their Contextual Learning Environments as Predictors of their Success in Tertiary Education in Israel

Widening participation and promoting social mobility to and through higher education
(HE) forge new ways to engaging social change in Israel. Until the 90's, the eight elite
research universities excluded many students because of stringent selective
requirements of high matriculation achievements. Thus, economic and social pressures
for increased access for marginalized groups resulted in the development of regional
colleges. The colleges lowered their entrance credentials requirements for all students
and addressed students' inadequacies in literacy, learning skills, and social aptitudes
that are essential for students’ success in Higher Education Institutions (HEI).
Correspondingly, they minimized dropout rates, improve retention rates, and overcome
the academic, cultural, and ethnic barriers that the underprepared students encounter in
HEI. This transformation has been paralleled by a dramatic increase in rates of student
enrollment in HEI; particularly in colleges, and especially of underrepresented groups:
women, those of lower-economic status, newcomers, and Arab minorities. Nowadays
in Israel, 66% of the 20-25 years age group are enrolled in HEI.
The purpose of this study is to get a better insight of students' views and
expectations related to their personal and institutional contextual factors that support
their academic and social success in a regional college and a University. We examined
the relationships between students' social and ethnic background characteristics and
features of their Learning Environments (LE) that impact their academic and social
growth as well as their motivation to pursue further academic or professional studies.
Utilizing survey and quantitative methods, this comparative study examines the
perceptions of 971 students. Of them, 497 (51%) students who are enrolled in an urbanresearch university and 474 students (49%) who are enrolled in a rural college. Our
findings indicate that the students at the college and the university assign different
priorities to learning skills, use of technology, and interactions with the academic and
administrative staff as essential for their academic success. Their preferences relate to
their choice of course of study, parents’ education, and the academic and financial
barriers they encounter.
We will highlight the obligation of each HEI to increase the physical, human, and
pedagogical resources that advance the knowledge, communication, and
implementation of innovative curricula that suit the needs of highly diverse populations.
We suggest that the findings of this study will aid future policies advance an
equitable social and academic atmosphere that contributes to students’ success at the
colleges and universities in Israel.