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Identifying the reasons why students leave higher education without completing their studies has become an increasingly important issue in higher education in the United Kingdom. This paper reports on a series of interviews held with social work students, social work educators, and higher education staff with responsibilities for recruitment and retention in four English higher education institutions (HEIs). The interviews aimed to identify some of the reasons why students might consider leaving before achieving a social work qualification and some of the initiatives the HEIs had set in place to reduce this risk. The findings suggest that some of the widening participation initiatives established in many HEIs are aimed at students at the beginning of their studies but that social work students might benefit from additional support at other periods, for example, both during and on their return from practice placements. Furthermore, the changing profile of social work students may have implications for cohort dynamics and social work educators need to be alert to these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the entry level we often hear, "We can teach people skills; but we cannot teach them the right attitudes. " Employee attitudes are an indicative factor as to whether an organization will succeed in the future. In the workplace then, attitudes towards work and the job at hand are of obvious importance. However, the literature has placed greater emphasis on job satisfaction and related issues, where attitudes are the outcome of work. It could be argued that attitudes to work, before entering a job, are perhaps more important, as they are antecedents and precursors to workplace performance and job satisfaction. This study addresses this gap by studying the attitudes to work of college students in Hospitality Management across the United Kingdom (UK) by conducting a survey of students in England, Scotland and Nothern Ireland. Students currently in college are predominantly from "Generation Y" (GEN Y), born between 1975 and 1995. As GEN Y members enter the work force in large numbers, it is imperative that employers gain deeper insights into their mindset. Work attitude is recognized as a multi-dimensional construct. The study found GEN Y students in UK to be largely positive in their attitudes to work and to exhibit relatively low levels of cynicism about work and promotion. Furthermore, the study found that with increasing age and work experience, students positive work attitude was enhanced, while their negative attitudes were ameliorated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]