DROPOUT INTENTION – HOW TO STRENGTHEN STUDENTS' MOTIVATION TO STUDY AND SUCCESSFULLY FINISHING THEIR UNIVERSITY COURSE
University of Ostrava (CZECH REPUBLIC)
About this paper:
Conference name: 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 11-13 November, 2024
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
The question of monitoring the reasons for dropping out of studies in general at various levels of education, and especially at universities, is topical not only in the Czech Republic and Europe, but has become an important topic of professional discussions all over the world. Especially in the case of university studies, in addition to the economic consequences that the high rate of early leaving of study entails, the reason is also that it significantly hinders the fulfillment of the goals for the share of the university-educated population (which is increasingly important for employment on the labor market).
Although the students´ dropout problem occurs across disciplines, in the case of natural sciences the rate is very high and the Faculty of Science University of Ostrava is no exception. Therefore, based on the data, we screened the individual reasons for dropping out of studies that are relevant in our case and developed a strategy to solve the problem. We focused primarily on areas, measures and interventions that can be implemented "on the fly" and which at the same time will not disrupt the complex structure and operation of the faculty or study program (realistically feasible with the minimization of administrative obstacles) and the changes will only be dynamic enough to not burden the functioning of the environment (smooth course of changes so that the reaction to new procedures is positively accepted).
As part of our strategy concept, we have structured the phenomena that have a positive effect on reducing the rate of unsuccessful finishing of study from the point of view of the timeline of work with the student from potential applicant to successful graduate.
The contribution will present this strategy, especially the identified most common problems and reasons for leaving studies in each of the specified time periods and proposals for specific measures.Keywords:
Dropout problem, motivation, student.