Realist Evaluation of UWI’s COVID-19 Academic Concessions: Contexts, Mechanisms, and Academic Momentum Outcomes

The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine campus implemented emergency academic concessions during COVID-19 – waiving Required to Withdraw (RTW) dismissals and suspending academic warnings – to keep students enrolled. This study uses institutional data (2017–2024) and a realist evaluation approach to examine how the policy affected student progression across five faculties, through the lens of academic momentum theory. Results show the impact was highly context-dependent. In sequential STEM programs, leniency boosted short-term retention but led to underprepared students accumulating “academic debt” and later surges in failures (deferred attrition). In more flexible programs, initial pass rates spiked under lenient grading, but a post-pandemic correction in failures occurred before outcomes normalized with remediation. In support-intensive programs, student success was largely maintained through conditional remediation. We conclude that UWI’s concessions achieved short-term continuity but often merely postponed academic difficulties. Tailored support and conditional progression measures are needed to translate crisis-driven leniency into long-term student success.