Evaluating critical success factors in the permanence in Higher Education using multi-criteria decision-making

Abstract

ABSTRACT University dropout is a phenomenon of growing interest due to the high financial costs that it involves for both families and states. Various variables have been studied in order to understand why this problem occurs. Satisfaction with the degree choice, study self-regulation and social adaptation within the university are some of the variables that are most important when studying the dropout intention. However, studying these variables is not an easy task and Fuzzy Inference Systems have helped by reducing the subjectivity of language. Therefore, the objective of this research is to adapt Fuzzy Inference Systems to improve knowledge about the intention to remain at university. We performed descriptive analyses, a classification tree and Multiple-criteria Decision-Making based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) on a sample of 1912 students from different universities in Spain. We saw a relationship between the three variables studied and the intention to remain. In conclusion, there is no single variable for understanding the phenomenon of university dropout, but several variables that interact within a holistic model.