HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE PROBLEM OF ABANDONMENT – HOW CAN WE KEEP STUDENTS FROM LEAVING?

Taking the case of the University of Aveiro, we herein analyse why students choose to abandon their higher education degrees. To date, and as a result of focus group and brainstorming interactions, as well as of an analysis performed at the highest levels in the university, the following twelve causes for abandonment were identified: 1. Difficulty in adapting to the first year at university; 2. Financial difficulty and not being granted, as requested, a student scholarship; 3. Not being able to finish a satisfactory number of subjects, in the first year at university; 4. Missing a lot of lectures, which makes passing more difficult; 5. Being somewhat immature and subsequently not adapting to the challenges, often a long way from home; 6. Entering the university in a later recruitment stage, later than everyone else, and thus experiencing added difficulty in accompanying the syllabus; 7. Not being in a degree which was the first study choice, as the student’s marks were not good enough, leading to low motivation levels; 8. Being one of the lower-end students in class, and thus having difficulty in keeping up; 9. Being a part-time student, while maintaining a full-time working job, which makes passing subjects harder; 10. Doing an internship, and subsequently being offered a job, which the student accepts, due to current financial priorities, leading to premature abandonment of university; 11. Having difficulty in passing one subject in particular (e.g. Calculus or Statistics), leading to the student abandoning higher education altogether; 12. Thinking that higher education is too theoretical, and therefore not worthwhile, and preferring to go right into the job market, to gain work experience. We also performed three interviews with students from various Higher Education Institutions (HEI), who dropped out of higher education, the data collected having confirmed what was stated above. Being aware of these issues and taking action (from a relationship marketing and services perspective) at the highest levels in a HEI is a good path towards success, as is occurring at the University of Aveiro. However, it will ultimately be up to the students, in the end, to decide whether studying is worthwhile – thus keeping dropout to a minimum.