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Understanding Catalan university dropout from a cross-
national approach
Journal: Studies in Higher Education
Manuscript ID: CSHE-2012-0109.R1
Manuscript Type: Article
Keywords: comparative study, retention, University dropout, university practices, university governance
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Understanding Catalan university dropout from a cross-national
approach
Introduction
In the last two decades, the interest shown by Catalan politicians and university
managers in dropout/persistence has increased as a consequence of the improvements in
access to higher education and changes promoted by the Bologna Declaration of June
1999 (Bologna Declaration 1999). The dropout rate has been quantified and used as a
performance indicator (e.g. Dearing 1997; Bricall 1998; Rauret and Grifoll 2001;
OECD 2012) and a number of research studies have focused on understanding the
extent of the consequences of dropout on higher education (e.g. Van Stolk et al. 2007;
Hovdhaugen 2009; Reisel and Brekke 2010; Chen 2012).
The aim of this paper is to look in depth at how dropout is being studied and
dealt with in a variety of contexts, in order to help design actions to increase student
retention and performance in higher education institutions (HEI). In particular, it
addresses the common reasons for this phenomenon in America, Europe and, more
specifically, in Spain and Catalonia, and illustrates the difficulty of measuring dropout
due to different countries and organizations using different formulas and concepts, such
as desertion, retention and survival rates, among others.
Measurement of university dropout
The dropout rate is not a simple indicator to analyze and there is no consensus regarding
its significance, so it tends to be limited to contextual interpretations. Universities lack
systematized, univocal methods for collecting student dropout data, making
measurement problematic. For this reason, the concept of dropout and the terms related
to it are both conceived and perceived differently, and are assigned terminology whose
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connotations vary depending on the context, such as desertion, leaving, completion,
discontinuity, (non-) persistence, survival and retention (see Table 1). In consequence,
the formulas applied to analyze this phenomenon differ between countries and it is
therefore an immense challenge to perform comparative studies. According to the
EACEA (2012, 105), ‘the development of an international methodology for the
indicator on completion rates in order to provide comparable data is still in progress.
For the year 2008, data is only available for 22 countries of the EHEA. More effort
should be made to collect comparable data and define suitable indicators to enable
stronger conclusions’.
TABLE #1 ABOUT HERE
In short, we find that HEIs measure dropout and desertion as much as they
measure completion and/or survival. The first two concepts are probably easier to
calculate if they are only associated with the number of students who drop out of
courses by not enrolling for any subject or module during two consecutive academic
years. The two latter concepts represent a far more accurate exercise: on the one hand,
the calculation of the percentages of graduates involves an estimation of the expected
completion rates; on the other hand, the calculation of the probability of students
continuing and completing a degree requires a broader set of variables in order to be
able to offer significant data, as well as the consideration of part-time students or those
that are slow to complete their degree, and full-time students.
University dropout in the Americas
The huge size and diversity of the Americas, with such a variety of different university
institutions and systems, make it difficult to find common patterns in the study of
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university dropout. According to 2005 data published by the Carnegie Foundation1, in
the United States alone there are as many as thirty-two different types of organization
that offer university studies. In Latin America and the Caribbean, there has been a major
proliferation of small, private higher education institutions. However, in most countries,
access to higher education is still limited to a small portion of the population (González
2006): less than 20% of adults older than 25 years of age have attended university and
less than 10% have completed their university studies.
Most North American studies and experts in this area (e.g. Chen 2012; Montalvo
in press) use data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and the Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) published by the US Education
Department’s National Center on Educational Statistics (NCES) . One of the main
limitations of this database is that it does not consider students who change centers or
students who switch from part-time to full-time university education. However, there
are other national institutions, such as what was formerly known as the American
College Testing Program (now ACT), that use their own measurement systems, one
such example being the Institutional Data Questionnaire (IDQ), which is conducted
annually at more than 2,500 universities and colleges.
Existing North American research studies on student persistence/dropout in
higher education: (1) identified that students who drop out of university present
different characteristics and behaviors from those who stay at university (Choy 2002);
(2) detected some variations regarding persistence and achievement depending on
students’ socio-demographic characteristics (Horn and Berger 2004); and (3) confirmed
that part-time attendance at university and working more than fifteen hours a week
reduces the likelihood of persistence (Chen and Carroll 2007). Other studies
(Lotkowski, Robbins and Noeth 2004) suggest that the retention of university students 1 Distribution of institutions and registrations: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/index.asp?key=805
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is dynamic and involves a complex interaction between academic (i.e. high school
grades, ACT test grades) and non-academic factors (i.e. institutional commitment,
social support, financial aid).
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the study of university dropout and
repetition has become a matter of major interest and a highly relevant problem due to
the increase in enrollment in higher education that started in the nineties (Bruneforth,
Motivans and Zhang 2004; González 2006), mainly among underprivileged groups who
are therefore more vulnerable to this type of phenomenon.
The characteristics, factors and magnitude of dropout or desertion at public and
private universities in the region were systematized in the report by the International
Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC 2006) on
the status of higher education between 2000 and 2005. Desertion at participant
institutions was calculated by taking into account the “adjusted desertion” concept on
three degree programs (Law, Civil Engineering in Public Works and Medicine) which
enabled representation of different knowledge areas at four institutions (two public and
two private) for each participant country. Global higher education desertion rates are
also calculated on the basis of “degree efficiency”, which is understood to mean the
proportion of students who graduate on normal schedule in a given year . According to
the study, with the exception of Cuba, only 43% of students who enter higher education
graduate in the established period.
Four factor categories related to university desertion can be identified in the
Latin American context: external factors (socioeconomic conditions), institutional
factors (i.e. increase in enrollment, lack of suitable funding mechanisms, academic
administration policies), academic factors (i.e. previous academic training, entrance
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examinations, acquired learning level) and personal factors (i.e. economic activity, aims
and personal motivations, dissonance with expectations, lack of emotional maturity).
The conducted studies (e.g. Gonzalez 2006; IESALC 2006) reveal that dropout
and repetition are two closely bound phenomena, for when a student repeats the same
course or year more than once, this often leads to dropout.
University dropout in Europe
In Europe, we detect an increasing interest in researching university dropout and an
increasing number of institutional initiatives to encourage the retention of students. For
the time being, however, it is still hard to find research that has managed to compile
data related with this phenomenon, and when this has been done, institutions have been
contacted individually and for a specific period of time, and the data has been
reconstructed. However, this data collection has traditionally not been particularly
systematic, and not all institutions have preserved the data required to calculate dropout
rates. Therefore, the selection of countries has been conditioned by the possibilities for
accessing reliable data and we are hence limited to only a few examples that can only
offer a general perspective of this phenomenon.
According to the OECD (2012, 64), ‘in every country for which comparable
data are available, tertiary-type A graduation rates increased between 1995 and 2010.
The increase was particularly steep between 1995 and 2000, and then levelled off. Over
the past three years, tertiary type-A graduation rates have remained relatively stable, at
around 39%. The most significant increases since 1995 were in Austria, the Czech
Republic, the Slovak Republic, Switzerland and Turkey, where the annual growth rate is
over 8%’.
The results of the research carried out by the Higher Education Information
System (HIS) (Klieme et al. 2008) show that university dropout in Germany is
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decreasing. This is seen as a consequence of the Bologna process, especially through the
establishment of new degrees and postgraduate courses. In particular, the HIS (Klieme
et al. 2008) indicates that university dropout decreased from 24% in 2004 to 20% in
2006. In Social Sciences, this figure has decreased from 27% to 10%, and more
precisely, there has been a decrease in language and cultural studies from 43% to 32%.
According to the German Ministry of Education, this positive development shows that
the Bologna process2 is helping to reduce university dropout, and that the introduction
of undergraduate degrees is contributing to a greater level of academic success.
However, Germany still has a low percentage of access to higher education and
therefore has a low proportion of higher education graduates (about 20%). Since the
nineties, the government has continued to establish measures to facilitate access from
vocational schools. However, the percentage in this case is only 1% (Klieme et al.
2008). The OECD (2007) also suggested that funding is made flexible in order to
improve the quality of university education (establishment of payments, refundable
loans according to income, etc.), making it especially attractive in those Länder where
these policies have been implemented.
The latest research into the short-term effects of the introduction of the Bachelor
degree to the framework of the Bologna Process on college enrollment and drop-out
rates in Germany has found no significant effect on either for most subjects
(Horstschräer and Sprietsma, 2010). In France, 41% of people aged between 25 and 34
years finish higher education (OECD 2008). However, university students face selective
and non-selective degrees, a dual system that provokes inequality in terms of access to
and success in higher education. The organization of higher education, as Beaupère et al
2 We refer to the Bologna Process as the one which launched the European Higher Education Area in 2010, by which students can choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses throughout Europe and benefit from smooth recognition procedures. The three main objectives of the Bologna process have been: introduction of the three cycle system (bachelor/master/doctorate), quality assurance and recognition of qualifications and periods of study among HEIs within the EHEA.
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(2007) maintain in the French study titled ‘L’abandon des études supérieurs’, induces
inequalities among students through a university selection process that involves
elimination or self-elimination. Felouzis (1997) differentiates between visible selection,
which functions through examinations, and invisible selection, which produces dropout
because it tests the students’ capacities for adaptation.
Beaupère et al. (2007) sustains that dropout students are mostly male, and have
obtained a mainly professional or technological high school diploma with one year or
more of delay. The type of center and studies chosen have strong predictive value for
dropout probability. Two key dropout periods can be identified: (1) the beginning of the
course, for those who are not able to adapt and (2) after the first holidays or in the
January examination period.
This dropout from A type education is not always seen as a failure, since most
students who drop out readdress their studies towards vocational education and obtain
an intermediate degree as provided by French institutions, such as the Cap-Bep level
(28%), the Bac level (16%), the Bac + 2 (18%) and third cycles and large schools (9%).
Only 8% do not obtain any type of degree.
According to the available OECD data (2008), Italy had one of the highest
university dropout rates (its 45% completion rates of tertiary-type A programs was
substantially below the OECD average of 69%). However, the latest OECD report
(2012) indicates a significant improvement in Italian completion rates. A study
promoted by the European Commission (D'Hombres 2007) confirms that the EHEA
reforms increased persistence: the likelihood of dropout in the period after the reforms
were introduced was 5.4% lower than before. This indication, which was also obtained
in Germany and Portugal (Cardoso et al. 2006), has recently been corroborated by
OECD (2012, 64): ‘because of increasing harmonisation among the systems of higher
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education in European countries and a general shift away from longer programmes in
favour of three-year programmes, some countries have seen rapid rises in their
graduation rates. Graduation rates rose sharply in the Czech Republic between 2004 and
2007 within the framework of the Bologna process reforms, and also rose in Finland
and the Slovak Republic between 2007 and 2008 for the same reason’.
Along the lines of the previous study, Cingano and Cipollone (2007) analyzed
the data from a survey carried out in 2001 by the National Statistics Institute of Italy
(ISTAT) on 23,000 individuals. On the basis of a representative sample (approximately
5% of the population), it was found that 23% of Italians who graduated from high
school in 1998 had changed university or dropped out by the summer of 2001. If we
measure dropout from the perspective of success rates (comparison between the number
of university graduates in a specific year with the number of students enrolled at the
start of the course), the dropout rate in 1997 was 58.5%.
The United Kingdom is favorably compared with other OECD countries in
terms of estimated graduation and survival rates. In 2004, the UK was ranked fifth
behind Japan, Ireland, Korea and Greece. According to an NAO report in 2007, dropout
has decreased in recent years and the number of applicants accepted by higher education
institutions has increased, with some differences with respect to different degrees. The
main increases in accepted applicants were in Medicine and the Arts, while the biggest
decreases were in Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering.
Regarding retention, in the 2004-2005 academic year and out of 256,000 full-
time students, 91.6% were enrolled for their first degree and continued to the second
year. 78.1% of these students are expected to finish their degrees, 2.2% to obtain an
inferior degree and 5.8% to continue their studies at another institution. As for part-time
first degree students in that same year, 76.9% continued to the second year. The NAO
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(2007) suggests the main reasons why students drop out of university programs in the
United Kingdom, and claims that these vary greatly and are closely related to current
explanatory models: personal issues, dissatisfaction with the course or the institution,
lack of preparation, wrong choice of subject, economic reasons and choosing a more
attractive opportunity.
University dropout in Spain
The OECD (2008) calculates that 39% of the Spanish population aged between 25 and
34 has a university degree. This figure is higher than the European average (33%), and
also that of the 19 OECD countries considered (33%), but the Spanish graduation and
completion rates are lower. It is estimated that, since 2004, 32.9% of Spanish students
have completed their university education, unlike the 37.3% of the population in the
OECD countries and 35.2% in Europe. In 2006, the figure in Spain was 25.5% for men
and 40.8% for women, while the averages for the OECD were 29.8% and 45.2%,
respectively.
As regards dropout, the latest report by the Conferencia de Rectores de las
Universidades Españolas (CRUE) reveals that during the 2006-2007 academic year,
127,396 dropouts were registered at public universities, corresponding to students who
had enrolled in 2004-2005 and who did not re-enroll for the next two years. Cancelled
enrollments have been excluded from this figure (Hernández 2008).
Despite this data, we do not have a global dropout rate for the Spanish university
system. However, we can estimate that, excluding the Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia (UNED), the Spanish distance-learning university, whose
dropout rate is 55.2%, desertion from the different Spanish universities stands between
25% and 29%.
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The data from the CRUE 2008 report (Hernández 2008) suggests that the
dropout rates by subject areas in Spain are: 14.4% for the Arts; 17.7% for short cycles
of Social and Juridical Sciences and 30.8% for long cycles; 7.5% in Research Sciences;
0.9% for short cycles and 1.7 % for long cycles of Health Sciences; and finally 16.3%
for short cycles and 10.7% for long cycles of Technical areas. Spanish university
degrees are generally long cycle, which before the Bologna Reform meant four or five
year-degrees, while short cycle degrees take three years.
Of the total number of registered dropouts:
• in 35.5% of cases, students were enrolled for short cycle degrees and the other
64.5% for long cycle degrees;
• 48.03% corresponds to women and 51.97% to men, although we should note
that, excluding degrees in Experimental Sciences and Technical areas, the
dropout rate is higher among women in all other fields (i.e., Arts, Social and
Juridical Sciences and Health Sciences).
All reports indicate that the decrease in new university enrollments, together
with the fact that students can now access their chosen degree as a first option, should
help to reduce dropout rates and, consequently, lead to an increase in graduation figures.
This should have a rebound effect by reducing the average time required to graduate.
It is important to note that most HEI in Spain started implementing the Bologna
process in 2010, while some universities started one or two years earlier. The
organization of the new reform tackles most of the previous shortcomings of HEI;
therefore, positive development and decreased university dropout are expected as a
consequence of the establishment of the new degrees and quality measures.
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The case of university dropout in Catalonia
The information on university dropout in Catalonia was obtained from the AQU
Catalonia database (years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002; n= 21,620) and cannot be
compared with the data from the CRUE report on Spanish universities since there is no
available data for the studied years. What we do know is that in 2006, of the total
dropouts registered at Spanish public universities, 35.5% corresponded to students
enrolled for short cycle degrees and the remaining 64.5% corresponded to long cycle
degrees. In the same year in Catalonia, the figures were 34.1% and 65.9%, respectively.
The average dropout rate among Catalan universities is 33.6%, ranging from
28.3% for the UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) to 37.2% for the UPC (Universitat
Politècnica de Catalunya).
Regarding the fields of study, the data shows 40% of dropouts in Social
Sciences, followed by Technical degrees (29.6%) and Arts (17.2%). There are no clear
differentiating features as regards age, gender, parents’ studies or employment.
Regarding academic variables, most students that dropped out had come from post-
compulsory secondary education (Batxillerat) and vocational training. Not surprisingly,
most of the students had entered HEI from Batxillerat. The data shows that among the
total number of students who dropped out of university, there are two prominent groups:
students who took university entrance examinations outside of Catalonia (with an
18.4% dropout rate) and students about whom we have no information because
they had transferred from other HEI (29%).
The results from the analysis of the UNEIX database, from the Catalan
government (Generalitat de Catalunya), yields additional information on the
accumulated dropout rate over seven academic years, showing a continuous increase in
dropout from Catalan public universities (see table 2). This trend shows that the
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institutions responsible for university policies have not managed to implement a policy
to promote student retention or reduce dropout any further than what is considered
“natural”.
TABLE #2 ABOUT HERE
One of the main factors that explain university dropout is related to access by
secondary students to the courses they wish to take after passing the university entrance
exam. Some students do not get onto the ”right” course due to failing to achieve the
minimum grade or choosing the wrong option due to a lack of information, guidance or
other contextual variables. Dropouts in the first year can be attributed to students
switching between degrees before eventually gaining access to the one they really want
to take.
Academic factors (Álvarez et al. 2006) also play a part and notable among these
is previous academic training. In Catalonia and Spain, recent PISA examinations (Ferrer
2009) reveal that, although there have been some improvements, the performance of
high school students is still below the European average in some aspects, which may
justify part of the current dropout rates.
The excess of theoretical orientation and poor links with the job market are other
academic factors that help to explain the differences between the dropout rates of
Catalan universities and those of other surrounding countries. Traditionally, the Spanish
university system has had little or no link with the productive network, either in terms
of the design of study plans, or the transfer of knowledge (CYD 2010). The latest report
by the CYD Foundation (2010), which analyzed more than 180 companies, indicates
that 38% of these feel that universities play an ineffective role in boosting economic
development, and 55% believe that this is because universities are not sufficiently
organized to perform such a role.
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The usual attraction and induction policies (open days, welcome programs, etc)
have enabled universities to maintain students for the first academic year, but many
students still seem to be finding the experience of this first year to be unsatisfactory, for
this is when most dropouts occur. Although Catalan universities have been developing
retention actions and policies (e.g., tutorials, guidance services, psycho-pedagogical
offices, student-mentor programs) in recent years, such a high first-year dropout rate
still evinces how inefficacious these are for promoting student engagement.
In line with the global trend to promote research, common policies in the
Spanish and Catalan university systems are prioritizing the same to the detriment of the
quality of teaching and student satisfaction. University lecturing is becoming a less
attractive profession, there is a lack of tools to facilitate the generational change in staff
by fostering the recruitment of young talented individuals or a more balanced
distribution of the teaching body throughout different knowledge areas.
There are not enough grants or scholarships to meet student needs, and it has
become essential for more effort to go into promoting grants, increasing loan programs
and establishing incentives that prioritize students’ academic performance and, in short,
the efficiency of the university system.
Lastly, as regards the Catalan public university system in general, the late
implementation of new curricula in accordance with the principles of the Bologna
process has prevented its real impact on the dropout and retention of university students
from being comprehensively assessed, something which has, however, occurred in
Germany (Klieme et al. 2008).
To complete the above analyses, if we break down the UNEIX data per
university, slight differences can be observed in the dropout rates of different university
institutions and in their evolution over these 7 academic years (see table 3). In
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agreement with other studies (Slate and Jones 2005; Werblow and Duesbery 2009) that
relate the size of educational institutions with performance and dropout, it can be
observed that the smaller universities (UPF, UdL and URV, but not the UdG) have
managed to reduce their dropout rates. In this regard, a noteworthy case is the UPF,
where the implementation of professional development policies for teachers, along with
a greater focus on student care in the form of guidance strategies, tutorials and smaller
learning groups, has brought about not only a decrease in the dropout rate, but also an
increase in the number of new enrollments. In the case of larger universities, which are
all located in the Barcelona area, the number of dropouts has increased, especially at the
UAB and UPC. This increase in dropout is accompanied by a notable decrease in the
number of new enrollments.
TABLE #3 ABOUT HERE
Nevertheless, the Catalan university system is notably homogeneous, with little
variety in terms of the strengths of each individual institution. None of them have
managed to develop any policies of their own that differentiate them from the others in
terms of the type and quality of the training they provide. The only exception is the
UPC, which specializes in technical studies and evidently has different entrance and
permanence policies, which explains its high percentage of dropouts. More specifically,
the UPC states that students who start any course must pass a minimum of 15
compulsory credits in their first academic year. There are only special considerations for
students that start a course after previously taking another one.
Conclusions
This paper demonstrates that dropout is a multi-factor phenomenon, in the sense that the
reasons behind it stem from the interaction between a wide range of personal and
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contextual factors. This interaction explains the importance of validating integrating
models that facilitate the creation of early diagnostic tools, the identification of risk
groups and the design of intervention proposals suitable for different situations. The
literature reviewed has highlighted the lack of a standardized system for the
measurement of dropout and determination of the causes that lead a student at a certain
moment to decide not to continue with a university course. Although specific
experiences have certainly taken place many countries, desertion or dropout is a clear
indicator of a worrying institutional failure.
Statistics and international analyses of different research studies have
demonstrated that nowadays a significant percentage of the population attends
university, but that, at the same time, the number of people who give up their studies
early is also increasing (about 29%), often influenced by work-related factors. Different
reports by the OECD and other organizations have warned about these high dropout
rates and their unavoidable consequences, both on a social and individual level.
From the European perspective, access to university and the interest in obtaining
university degrees has significantly increased, with a wider range of programs that
guarantee progress in the knowledge society, better and greater transition from high
school to university and an acceptable increase in the success rates of higher degrees.
Nevertheless, we can deduce from the aforesaid reports that although the number of
European students in higher education has increased, more than 30% of the enrolled
students decide not to complete their studies, with the survival rate currently being
around 71% (21008 data). The implementation of the EHEA augurs higher retention
and completion levels in European HEI.
From the North American (USA and Canada) perspective, the data on
persistence and performance, dropout by specific groups and the academic as well as
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non-academic factors are analyzed. In the former case, there is a significant number of
students who change center or give up their studies; in the latter, a large number of
students combine studies and work (between 52% and 62%) and only dedicate half their
time to each. The academic and non-academic factors are carefully analyzed because of
their relation with retention rates. Research in Latin America, although limited in terms
of institutional data, demonstrates how severe the dropout problem is: only 43% of
students admitted to higher education programs graduate in the established period
(except in Cuba).
Focusing on Europe, and more specifically on Spain, the university dropout rate
is approaching 30% in this country, which is mostly explained by unsatisfactory first
year experiences and students who did not enroll for their first choice option. Economic
factors have an additional impact. Although enrollment fees are low, a large section of
the population do not receive public grants or scholarships and are forced to work as
well as study, which does not always favor retention.
In this regard, the Spanish Ministry of Education, within the framework of the
2010-2020 goals for education, aims to guarantee, among other aspects, that the lack of
economic resources does not prevent any student from accessing or continuing their
university studies; grants for higher education students with a view to avoiding dropout
for financial reasons; equity and the application of the principles of equal opportunities,
that there is no discrimination (including gender-based discrimination); and universal
inclusion in access to higher education. In fact, these aspects are in line with the goals
set by the European Council to improve educational levels by 2020, the most notable of
which is an increase in the percentage of the population aged between 30 and 34 years
who have completed higher education to at least 44%.
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Furthermore, with a view to overcoming the inefficiencies of the Spanish
university system, improved financing of universities will be sought in order to promote
academic excellence and increase their socioeconomic impact. This has suffered greatly
as a result of the budget cuts stemming from the current economic crisis, which have
affected both higher education and university institutions.
The case of the Catalan higher education system does not differ too much from
that of Spain (the 30% dropout rate is also on the Catalan political agenda) although
regional differences can be observed. Our findings suggest the importance of
contextualizing retention strategies to meet the particular needs of degrees, schools and
universities and understand the potential influence of national policies, managerial
priorities, learning traditions and organizational cultures. The data and research
evidence presented in this article justify the need to improve vocational counseling
practices and to rethink particular policies, such as university access, induction,
tutorship and fellowship programs in order to counterbalance the main causes of
university dropout.
In this international review, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that despite
the diversity of research methodologies, which enormously hinders any general
treatment or unified approach to the phenomenon, dropout itself has a severe impact on
students’ lives and those of their families and, in turn, on the skills of each country’s
workforce. According to the OECD (2010, 20), ‘tertiary education serves as an indicator
of the rate at which countries produce advanced knowledge. Countries with high
graduation rates at tertiary level are also those most likely to be developing or
maintaining a highly skilled labour force’.
Retention is, therefore, considered a determining factor of the prestige,
credibility and economic stability of universities and, consequently, of the university
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system. Retention policies not only contribute to the successful completion of studies by
promoting student satisfaction and engagement, but also provide major benefits to the
university and to society through keeping enrollments stable in order to guarantee the
university budget.
However, retention is a necessary but non-sufficient condition. As Tinto (1987,
15) states, ‘the secret of successful retention programs is no secret at all, but a
reaffirmation of some of the important foundations of higher education. […] with the
notion that successful retention is no more than, but certainly no less than, successful
education’. Retention policies must necessarily entail not only some skills and
institutional support, but also improvements in the quality of educational processes and
contexts.
Acknowledgements
This work was developed within the framework of the research project (“Estudi per analitzar
dades i causes de l’abandonament dels estudiants a la universitat” – ref. IUE/3012/2007)
funded by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency.
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Table 1. Terminology related to dropout in Higher Education.
Dropout rate Number of students who leave their university studies after the first
year (in Australia). In Spain, it refers to the number of students who
registered for a course and did not formally enroll again for the next
two course periods (Hernández 2008).
Desertion In South America: ‘voluntary or obligatory dropout from the degree for
which a student is enrolled, brought about by the positive or negative
influence of internal or external circumstances’ (González 2006, 157).
Inactive students Students who are enrolled at a university for at least three years but
have not attended any lectures for the last year (in Italy).
Progress or
continuation rate
Number of students who stay on a course and progress on schedule (in
the Netherlands).
Completion rate Number of students who graduate within 150% of a regular course
period (six years). In Ireland, students who complete their studies on
time are differentiated from those who graduate late.
Retention rate The UK mainly uses two measurements (NAO 2007):
-The completion rate: the proportion of students who start their studies
in a given year and who continue until they obtain the degree, and
spend no more than one consecutive year out of university education.
-The continuation rate: a more immediate measure that consists of the
percentage number of students per institution that are enrolled the
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year after that of initial entrance in university.
Survival rate Indicator that indirectly measures the internal efficiency of higher
education systems: those who enroll for a type A university study
program, and obtain a degree with a type A or B qualification, or those
who enroll for a type B program and obtain a degree with a type A or B1
qualification (OECD 2009).
1 The traditional university degree is associated with type A, while type B generally refers to shorter courses lasting for three years,
often aimed at vocational training (second term training cycles) so as to provide direct access to employment. However, the shorter
type A university programs are (which are considered to be of medium duration, from three to four years), the higher the
participation rates.
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Table 2. Accumulated dropout rate in courses in the Catalan public university system.
Initial academic
year
Accumulated dropout rate
00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07
00-01 19.02% 26.08% 30.43% 33.64% 35.98% 38.32% 40.06%
01-02 17.94% 25.79% 30.43% 33.53% 36.75% 38.99%
02-03 19.34% 27.21% 31.85% 35.92% 38.83%
03-04 19.42% 27.02% 32.82% 36.39%
04-05 19.51% 28.85% 33.66%
05-06 21.37% 29.50%
06-07 20.33%
Source: UNEIX database, Government of Catalonia.
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Table 3. Accumulated dropout rate in courses in the Catalan public university system.
University
Accumulated dropout rate
00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07
Universitat de Barcelona (UB) 18.82% 17.19% 18.87% 19.06% 18.22% 18.58% 19.66%
Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona (UAB) 15.89% 16.10% 17.18% 17.50% 18.36% 24.18% 24.18%
Universitat Politècnica de
Catalunya (UPC) 22.30% 20.68% 22.20% 23.19% 24.55% 26.89% 26.35%
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) 16.06% 17.26% 20.04% 18.68% 17.79% 18.13% 15.71%
Universitat de Girona (UdG) 20.63% 21.24% 21.10% 21.95% 22.15% 23.13% 24.57%
Universitat de Lleida (UdL) 17.69% 14.42% 16.33% 15.51% 16.13% 17.22% 16.94%
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
(URV) 22.32% 19.85% 19.84% 18.53% 17.86% 18.04% 17.82%
Source: UNEIX database, Government of Catalonia.
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