Understanding the dynamics of college transitions between courses: Uncertainty associated with the decision to drop out studies among first and second year students

Abstract

University dropout is a phenomenon of growing interest due to its negative consequences. Various variables have been studied in order to understand why this problem occurs. Satisfaction with the degree choice, self-regulation strategies and engagement within the university are some of the variables that have been studied in order to understand why students decide to drop out university. In this sense, it is also important to consider uncertainty, which refers to the level of certainty that students have about these variables to understand the decisions to drop out. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyse the uncertainty associated with the decision to drop out studies among first year and second-year students, based on these three variables using Multiple Criteria Decision-Making. We performed descriptive analyses and FTOPSIS method on a sample of 719 students from a university in the north of Spain. We saw a relationship between the three variables studied and the intention to persist, as well as being a first-year student. In conclusion, it is important to continue studying the variables that influence this phenomenon in greater depth. In addition, this type of analysis could help in future research to understand in greater depth the influence of other variables on dropout rates.