From connection to completion: Exploring the relationship between integration and student persistence

Transition to higher education can be challenging for first-year students. Those unable to adapt to the social and academic demands may wish to leave this new and sometimes unwelcoming environment. Students entering university not only need to cope with new academic expectations, but also navigate a diverse and unknown social system. Therefore, fostering connections among students can be crucial to promoting integration into the academic environment and, consequently, persistence through graduation. In this study, we administered a survey to investigate the relationships between student integration, measured through Social Network Analysis (SNA), and predictors of persistence - self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and perception of curricular relevance - among 367 STEM students at a public university in Brazil. Statistically significant correlations were identified between two SNA metrics - weighted degree and eigenvector centrality - and the predictors of persistence, especially sense of belonging. These results indicate that students who have more relevant interactions with more peers are more likely to persist and complete their degrees. Promoting student integration may constitute a promising strategy for faculty and institutions to address the issue of student attrition.