Identifying and Ranking Student Support Strategies in Higher Education Using Hybrid MCDM Technique and Assistant Professor,Department of H&S,Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology

Identifying and Ranking Student Support Strategies in Higher Education Using Hybrid MCDM Technique and Assistant Professor,Department of H&S,Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Identifying and Ranking Student Support Strategies in Higher Education Using Hybrid MCDM Technique and Assistant Professor,Department of H&S,Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology D Sudheer Reddy, Dr K Narendra Kumar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8898350/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 15 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Higher education institutions face complex challenges in identifying and implementing effective strategies that enhance student success and academic quality. This study proposes a hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach integrating the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in order to estimate and rank student support mechanisms. The FAHP is used to get the relative weights of criteria under uncertainty, while TOPSIS is utilized to calculate the closeness coefficient for each alternative based on its proximity to the ideal solution. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the model’s applicability and versatility. Decision Matrix is created by survey of 400 students from various institutions in Andra Pradesh and the opinion of senior faculties having more that 15 years experience. The considered student support strategies are academic advising, career guidance, counselling, peer mentoring, and financial aid that are evaluated under criteria’s are taken as accessibility, effectiveness, satisfaction, cost efficiency, and impact on retention. The results expose the top-ranked strategies in their respective domains, emphasizing the importance of career-oriented support and interactive digital learning environments in fostering academic achievement. The least ranked strategy is financial aid, possibly due to limited accessibility and bureaucratic complexity. The visual analysis using bar and radar charts further illustrates the performance differences among alternatives, providing intuitive insights for academic administrators. The findings affirm that the hybrid FAHP– TOPSIS framework is a robust, flexible, and translucent decision-support tool capable of managing the inherent uncertainty and subjectivity of educational evaluation. This study contributes a replicable methodological model that can be extended to diverse decision contexts such as curriculum planning, institutional ranking, and quality assurance. Higher Education Fuzzy AHP TOPSIS Hybrid MCDM Student Support E-Learning Effectiveness Decision Analysis Educational Strategy Evaluation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 13 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 16 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 19 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 18 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 18 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8898350","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":621597969,"identity":"4340da5a-4209-43ec-9e21-f18ca6bc052e","order_by":0,"name":"D Sudheer Reddy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACMzBpwJB84PCPCiCLmbmBWC1piY8ZzoC0MBKtJcfYmLENxCSgRX5G8rYHHyru5ZmzJ5hJF86rjeZvB2r5UbENpxaDG2nlhjPOFBdb9jxIk5657XjujMOMDYw9Z27j1iKRYybN25aQuOFGwjEJ3m3HchuAWpgZ23BrkZ8B1PL3H0hLYpsE75xjufMJaWG4AdTC2ADSksxszNtQk7uBkBaDM8/KJHuOJRQDGYwPZxw7kLsRqOUgPr/Itydvk/hRk5BncDz/w4EPNXW5884fPvjgRwUeh0FBApQ+DCYPEFSPpKWOGMWjYBSMglEwwgAApc1jhB5eaSwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"D","middleName":"Sudheer","lastName":"Reddy","suffix":""},{"id":621597970,"identity":"70392eae-f7f4-4d14-a7b8-4f330eb9349d","order_by":1,"name":"Dr K Narendra Kumar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr","firstName":"K","middleName":"Narendra","lastName":"Kumar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-17 06:55:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8898350/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8898350/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106790630,"identity":"d93e8b73-70b3-4927-abe0-a4781833f7dd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-13 13:13:48","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":640697,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SudheerPaperP1R2Discover18032026Final.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8898350/v1_covered_033865fc-167d-4859-8d5d-52a1a398aab9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Identifying and Ranking Student Support Strategies in Higher Education Using Hybrid MCDM Technique and Assistant Professor,Department of H\u0026S,Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-education","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"diedu","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Education](https://www.springer.com/journal/44217)","snPcode":"44217","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/44217/3","title":"Discover Education","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Higher Education, Fuzzy AHP, TOPSIS, Hybrid MCDM, Student Support, E-Learning Effectiveness, Decision Analysis, Educational Strategy Evaluation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8898350/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8898350/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Higher education institutions face complex challenges in identifying and implementing effective strategies that enhance student success and academic quality. 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