Abstract:

Previous studies report that the abandonment of studies without finishing occurs, above all, to students with work and family responsibilities. Those students have been designated as non-traditional students. Designing an inclusive educational model that fits those students' needs is the first step in solving the problem. However, each higher education institution and each discipline have its own peculiarities. For that reason, models require adaptation to each context. Understanding the students' reasons for dropping out of each university is necessary in order to establish the premises that characterize a specific model that fits each institution. Understanding these reasons requires a knowledge of the subjectivity that will be obtained through in-depth interviews with students who have dropped out of a particular institution. This work aims to establish a mental map of the aspects to be dealt with in these interviews. For this, a background study of non-traditional students’ dropouts was carried out. The work concludes with a mental map of the elements to be discussed in the interviews. These elements are articulated in two axes: the axis of students with their relevant intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics, and the axis of the institutions that indicates organizational characteristics and human relations at universities.

Keywords:

Non-traditional students, higher education, interruption of studies, qualitative research.