Abstract
<p>In recent years, several studies have been carried out into the reasons why students drop out of online higher education, following the rise in the relative weight of this form of education. However, more effort has gone into analyzing the causes of this phenomenon than into trying to characterize students who drop out, that is defining what a dropout student is. But obtaining a proper definition of dropout is just as important as describing its causes. It also appears that the definition of dropout is very sensitive to context. As one of the main findings of this article, we reach a pure empirical definition, at a programme level, of students who drop out of an online higher education context with non-mandatory enrollment. This definition is based on the probability of students not continuing a specific academic programme following several consecutive semesters of “theoretical break”, and is highly adaptable to institutions offering distance education with no permanence requirements, that is ones offering the possibility of taking breaks. Our findings show that there are differences regarding the number of consecutive semesters that define dropout depending on whether the programme requires previous experience or not. Additionally, we observe significant differences in the dropout rate between specific programmes, as well as a higher level of dropout in the first semesters. Analyzing the reasons behind these facts should help higher education institutions to make more sound and efficient decisions.</p>
Highlights
University dropout is a major issue and should be seen as a failure of the higher education system to create an outcome after having invested a significant amount of resources, normally publicly funded (OECD, 2012)
Tinto stresses the importance of reaching a good definition of university dropout, which he sees as essential as detecting the causes of this dropout: Despite the very extensive literature on dropout from higher education, much remains unknown about the nature of the dropout process
This paper deals with the formulation of a definition of dropout that is suitable to online/distance higher education institutions with relaxed enrollment requirements, such as the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Summary
University dropout is a major issue and should be seen as a failure of the higher education system to create an outcome (graduates) after having invested a significant amount of resources, normally publicly funded (OECD, 2012). One of the authors who has put great emphasis on creating a university dropout doctrine is Vincent Tinto (1975). Tinto stresses the importance of reaching a good definition of university dropout, which he sees as essential as detecting the causes of this dropout (emphasis added by authors): Despite the very extensive literature on dropout from higher education, much remains unknown about the nature of the dropout process. The failure of past research to delineate more clearly the multiple characteristics of dropout can be traced to two major shortcomings: namely, inadequate attention given to questions of definition and to the development of theoretical models that seek to explain, not to describe, the processes that bring individuals to leave institutions of higher education. The failure of past research to delineate more clearly the multiple characteristics of dropout can be traced to two major shortcomings: namely, inadequate attention given to questions of definition and to the development of theoretical models that seek to explain, not to describe, the processes that bring individuals to leave institutions of higher education. (p. 89)
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