The report notes that the devotion to ensuring student success varies across Europe, ranging from having no to little importance on the policy agenda in Cyprus, Iceland, Latvia and the Slovak Republic, to placing high or very high on the national agenda for example in Sweden, Serbia, Greece and France. Overall, study success is considered important in 75% of the surveyed countries. European countries employ different definitions of study success: completion, time-to-degree and retention. There is no uniform approach to student success, and the main instruments used to address student success are financial incentives, information and support services for students, and organisational measures. A major message of the study is that countries that place more importance on study success and have clear objectives for it tend to have in place a more effective mix of policies, which allows them to address different aspects of study success. 

The authors put forward a number of recommendations for boosting study success. Policy makers in Europe lack systematic knowledge about the effectiveness of policies addressing study success, and there is a need for discussing the issue on the European level and agreeing on key definitions and explicit indicators for measuring study success. At the national level, systematic collecting and monitoring of data on study success along with making this information public can make providers accountable for outcomes and guide student choice. To support the social and academic integration of students, institutions can formulate adequate monitoring, counselling and mentoring systems. 

European Commission

Executive Summary (available in English, French and German)

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