Dropout In Higher Education Research Articles

Construção da Escala de Motivos para Evasão do Ensino Superior

espanolEl objetivo de este trabajo es presentar la construccion de los itenes y validacion de la estructura interna de la Escala de Razones para Desercion de la Educacion Superior. El redacion de los itenes se baso en articulos brasilenos, recuperados de bases de datos digitales, asi como las experiencias de los estudiantes de educacion superior activos y inactivos. Los itenes fueron evaluados por jueces, quienes sugirieron cambios editoriales y adiciones, y la primera version tenia 81 itenes que fueron completados por 327 estudiantes de instituciones publicas y privadas. Siete componentes principales con alfas entre 0,79 y 0,93 se extrajeron basan en 66 itens restantes. Luego, los itenes fueron analizados de acuerdo con el modelo de Rasch, y un mostro indices de ajuste fuera del patron, y tambien fue excluido, dejando 65 itenes. Los resultados se discuten a la luz de estudios sobre el tema, y destaco sus contribuciones, limitaciones y es necesaria la investigacion futura. EnglishThe aim of this study is to report the construction and validation of the items and the internal structure of the Reasons for Higher Education Dropout Scale. The wording of the items was based on Brazilian papers, retrieved from digital databases, as well as the experiences of active and inactive higher education students. The items were evaluated by judges, who suggested writing changes and additions, and the first version had 81 items which were completed by 327 students from public and private institutions. Based on parallel analysis, seven principal components were extracted with alphas between .79 and .93. Then, the items were analyzed according to the Rasch model, and one item fit indices showed nonstandard, and was also excluded, leaving 65 items. The results are discussed in the light of studies on the subject, and highlighted its contributions, limitations and future research is needed. portuguesO objetivo deste estudo e relatar a construcao dos itens e validacao da estrutura interna da Escala de Motivos para Evasao do Ensino Superior. A formulacao dos itens baseou-se em artigos brasileiros, recuperados de bases de dados digitais, bem como na vivencia de estudantes de Ensino Superior ativos e evadidos. Os itens foram avaliados por juizes, que sugeriram mudancas de redacao e inclusoes, sendo que a primeira versao contou com 81 itens, que foram respondidos por 327 estudantes, de instituicoes publicas e particulares. Sete componentes principais com alfas entre 0,79 e 0,93 foram extraidos com base em 66 itens restantes. Em seguida, os itens foram analisados segundo o modelo de Rasch, sendo que um item mostrou indices de ajuste fora do padrao e foi excluido, restando 65 itens. Os resultados sao discutidos a luz de estudos sobre o assunto, sendo ressaltadas suas contribuicoes, limitacoes e pesquisas futuras necessarias

Fatores que influenciam o abandono no ensino superior e iniciativas para a sua prevenção: O olhar de estudantes

School dropout in higher education has gained greater political and social relevance overthe last years and has become an object of reflection by the scientific community and the highereducation institutions (HEI). It is within this problem’s framework that this article lies. In it theresults of an exploratory study at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP) are reported,which involved students at risk of school dropout in the cycles of studies from 2010 to 2013 andthe 2013-2014 schoolyear. This was a qualitative research that aimed to characterize and understand the reasons/factors that lead students for dropping out their courses. The results indicate, in themajority of cases, that the economic and academic factors are the main reasons for students droppingout their courses. With regard to the support/institutional initiatives, the data refer to the insufficiencyof existing resources and, to a large extent, to the lack of the institutional awareness of thephenomenon.

Higher Education Drop-Out in Spain—Particular Case of Universities in Galicia

The existence of a high university dropout rate in Spain is undeniable. Data shows that approximately one out of five students drop out from college. During the economic expansion period (2001-2007) more students abandoned their studies than during the crisis period (2007-2011). This situation also affects unemployment rates due to the fact that higher education leads to lower unemployment rates. Galicia presented slightly higher dropout rates than Spain from 2006 to 2009; nevertheless during the 2009/2010 academic year this rate was lower. The reasons for dropout can be divided into six distinct factors: psycho educational, evolutionary, family, economic, institutional and social factors. The main drop-out motives are related, among others, to incompatibility with work, economy, university (environment, teachers and difficulties) and so on. According to the BBVA research, the dropout rate imposes a great cost on the entire economy reaching the sum of 5,772 euros per year and per student and exceeding the amount of 1,500 million euros if the student drops out during the first cycle. Due to the urgent need of reducing the dropout rate, the Ministry of Education developed an action plan to increase the number of young people enrolled in a higher education course; so that, consequently, Spain can redirect its economic growth model.

Success in Higher Education and the Labor Market

In personnel selection, psychometric tests are often used to predict the suitability of job applicants. Of the available predictors, like job sample, interview or references, tests stand out with regard to their predictive validity. According to a large meta-analytic study by Schmidt and Hunter (1998) cognitive tests are among the best predictors available (also see Robertson and Smith (2001)). In many validity studies, supervisor ratings are used as criterion measures. In the field of personnel selection these ratings are known for their unreliability (Murphy, 2008; Saal, Downey, & Lahey, 1980; Scullen, Mount, & Judge, 2003). In this article, validity is approached from a different angle. Instead of using supervisor ratings, dropout in higher education and (un)employment were used as criterion measures. It turns out that both criteria can be predicted using combined scores from a multi-scale personality questionnaire. Implications and suggestions for application and further research are discussed.

Benchmarking the habits and behaviours of successful students: A case study of academic-business collaboration

<p>Student success and retention is a primary goal of higher education institutions across the world. The cost of student failure and dropout in higher education is multifaceted including, amongst other things, the loss of revenue, prestige, and stakeholder trust for both institutions and students. Interventions to address this are complex and varied. While the dominant thrust has been to investigate academic and non-academic risk factors thus applying a “risk” lens, equal attention should be given to exploring the characteristics of successful students which expands the focus to include “requirements for success”.</p><p>Based on a socio-critical model for understanding of student success and retention, the University of South Africa (Unisa) initiated a pilot project to benchmark successful students’ habits and behaviours using a tool employed in business settings, namely Shadowmatch®.</p><p>The original focus was on finding a theoretically valid measured for habits and behaviours to examine the critical aspect of student agency in the social critical model. Although this was not the focus of the pilot, concerns regarding using a commercial tool in an academic setting overshadowed the process. This paper provides insights into how academic-business collaboration could allow an institution to be more dynamic and flexible in supporting its student population.</p>

Propuesta para analizar la calidad educativa y deserción escolar a nivel superior en el estado de Hidalgo. Caso de un Instituto Tecnológico Superior en el occidente del estado de Hidalgo

En este ensayo se propone analizar el tema de la deserción escolar en educación superior de un Instituto Tecnológico Superior en el estado de Hidalgo con una perspectiva estadística experimental, analizando los casos de deserción de varios periodos escolares. La metodología estadística de diseño de experimentos y la descripción de los factores influyentes se propone utilizarlas en la deserción escolar analizando desde el área cuantitativa.

Factors Affecting the Dropout Students Using Discriminant Analysis and Association Rule

Currently, the educational institutions face a lot of issues, such as high dropout rate, predicting the quality of student interaction, student's performance evaluation and the placement of the students. To overcome these issues of educational institutions, data mining techniques are used. One of the biggest challenges that higher education faces is scaling down the rate of dropout students. The aim of this paper was to select the subset of relevant features from a large set of features using the statistical tool Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and to find frequent item sets and to extract the hidden information from the large data regarding the factors that are responsible for student dropout using the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) tool. This paper proposes a novel concept of discriminant analysis used for analysing the affects of 33 variables on the student dropout in higher education. It also indicates which variables are important in explaining a dropout student and the Apriori algorithm in mining association rule from a dataset containing dropout student data concerning women. For this study, data of the first year undergraduate students were collected randomly from a survey based on personal interview at the university. The generated knowledge will be quite useful for understanding the problem in a better way and to have a proper planning or decision to scale down the dropout rate.

Uso de tecnologías de la informática y comunicación (TIC) para disminuir la deserción de egresados en posgrados semipresenciales

La deserción estudiantil es un problema que los programas de educación superior deben atender con prioridad, dado que provocan inconvenientes a la hora de la acreditación universitaria, son fuente de frustración para los estudiantes y constituyen una pérdida de recursos económicos. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar si el uso de tecnologías de la informática y comunicación, en su sentido más amplio, permite disminuir la deserción estudiantil en la maestría de Manejo de Recursos Naturales de la Universidad Estatal a Distancia UNED (Costa Rica) y aumenta su calidad y vinculación con las necesidades de la sociedad. Realizamos un análisis comparativo de indicadores de dicha maestría antes del establecimiento de dos medidas y después de ellas. Las medidas de la informática y la comunicación que se aplicaron son: 1) creación de un laboratorio de investigación y 2) generación de bases de datos de seguimiento del avance de los proyectos de investigación de estudiantes. Los periodos analizados van del 2002 hasta finales del 2007 y los acumulados del 2002 hasta finales del 2011. Los indicadores analizados se relacionan con la actividad académica de estudiantes y docentes, y con la proyección hacia la sociedad (medida por las tesis y publicaciones científicas producidas durante esos periodos). Se encontró que en el primer periodo el 61% de los egresados estabaninactivos; mientras que el segundo la inactividad descendió a 17%. La investigación realizada por los profesores pasó de cero a 36%. La proyección a la sociedad pasó de solo tres a 18 tesis, y de cero a 44 publicaciones divulgativas y 18 artículos científicos. Se concluye que las dos medidas de uso de tecnología de la informática y comunicación si apoyan los procesos de enseñanza, ya que disminuye la deserción de egresados y favorece la vinculación del programa con la sociedad.ABSTRACTComputer and communication technologies (ICT) help to reduce attrition in distance graduate education programs. Higher education dropout is a priority problem for university accreditation. It is also a frustration source for students and economic waste. The objective of this study was to determine whether the use of Information and Communication Technologies, in its broadest sense, can: reduce student dropout in the Master Program of Natural Resources Management at the Open University of Costa Rica, UNED, and increases its quality and linkage with society. We performed a comparative analysis of indicators before and after establishing two Information and Communication Technologies’ Innovations: 1) creation of a research laboratory and 2)generation student research project progress monitoring databases. Analyzed periods are: a) 2002 to late 2007 and b) 2002 to late 2011. Analyzed indicators are related to students and professors academic activities and society impact (theses, informative and scientific publications amount). We found that in the first period 61% of graduates were inactive, while in the second period inactivity decreased to 17%. Professors conducting research changed from zero to 36%. Society impact increased from three to 18 theses, and from zero to 44 informative publications and 18 scientific papers. We conclude that the two Information and Communication Technologies’ innovations applied, do support teaching, since attrition decreased and bonding with society increased.

Minority Dropout in Higher Education: A Comparison of the United States and Norway Using Competing Risk Event History Analysis

The objective of this article is to compare college persistence patterns among minority and majority students in universities and colleges in Norway with that of the United States. Despite differences in the educational systems and economic regimes, both countries face the common challenge of ensuring educational equity, especially among students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and minority students. Using competing risk event history analysis, this article examines nationally representative samples of students to assess the relative year-to-year risk of dropping out from higher education among minority and majority students. We found that while the US higher education system tends to exacerbate initial socioeconomic inequalities between minority and majority students, there is no difference in the dropout risk among minority and majority students in Norway. Moreover, at the [Bachelor of Arts] BA level, we found that minority students graduate at significantly lower rates than majority students in the United States, even when we control for dropping out. Again, there is no such difference in Norway. This indicates that even though minority students in Norway are also disproportionately from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, they are encountering fewer obstacles in higher education than minority students in the United States.

Educational choice and persistence in male- and female-dominated fields

Even though female students now make up more than half of all higher education students in many countries, the distribution of women across fields of study is still very uneven. This study examines the gendered nature of recruitment and dropout in higher education. Our results show that students who made gender traditional choices more often had an early preference for the study programme they enrolled in. Moreover, female students reported more often than male students that they had been encouraged by their parents and friends. However, unlike what we expected, there are no differences between students in gender traditional and non-traditional programmes with regard to encouragement from parents and students’ confidence that they had made the right choice. While male students’ dropout is unrelated to the gender composition of educational programmes, women drop out of female-dominated programmes to a lesser extent.