Abstract:

Student dropout continues to represent a structural challenge in online higher education programs, particularly in the post-pandemic context. Recent research highlights that beyond academic or administrative factors, emotional and mental health-related risks have become critical elements influencing students’ capacity to sustain their educational trajectories in online higher education programs. However, existing institutional support mechanisms often lack the capacity to identify these risks early and respond in a timely and contextualized manner.

This paper presents conceptual advances derived from ongoing doctoral research developed within the PhD in Education and ICT at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), situated in UNIMINUTO Virtual, a Colombian institution delivering online higher education programs. The study focuses on the development of an Integrated Human–AI Support Framework designed to strengthen preventive and predictive student support through the articulation of conversational artificial intelligence and human counsellors.

UNIMINUTO Virtual has implemented multiple accompaniment mechanisms, including human counsellors for student permanence, a conversational AI agent (MIA), omnichannel communication strategies and a CRM system. This paper conceptually integrates these components into a unified framework in which conversational AI enables scalable early detection of emotional, behavioral and academic risk signals, while human counsellors provide contextual interpretation, relational support and informed decision-making. Within this framework, mental health is addressed as a critical intervention dimension contributing to the mitigation of dropout risks.
This contribution socializes the current conceptual and theoretical advances of the research, including state-of-the-art derived findings that help delimit the structural nature of dropout risks in online higher education and inform the articulation of the Integrated Human–AI Support Framework within its institutional context. The article contributes to those investigating theoretical foundations for promoting preventive, predictive, and ethically grounded approaches for student retention in online higher education.

Keywords:

Conversational AI, Student retention, Online higher education, Human–AI collaboration, Dropout prevention, Student mental health, Ethical governance, Conversational support strategies.