Managing Internal Personal Factors of Business Student Drop-Out to Build Retention

Abstract

The paper focuses on causes for drop-out from business study programs at case university over seven years. Causes of drop-outs were collected and the database consists of 1,154 drop-out. Students indicated their reasons and preferences of their causes leading to leave studies. The aim of this paper is to identify factors affecting of drop-outs in business higher education and its evolvement in past years to define main areas of negative causes. The article presents students perception on study conditions and identifies the most important personal reasons to quit. The outputs of this paper are based on survey data from the whole sample of dropping students in the case business school. Statistical analysis, including correlation and factor analysis were employed to analyse students’ perception of the educational processes impacting retention. The analyses revealed clusters of variables with proven co-appearance and defining students´ main causes to drop-out. Orientation of students is primarily on expectations and personal reasons. The results lead to improvements in institutional processes to address students’ requirements and expectations to improve retention at universities.