Background: Education plays a pivotal role in empowering individuals with the knowledge and skills needed for careers, economic progress, and societal engagement. Dropping out of school before achieving a qualification undermines these opportunities and has an impact on individuals and society (Audit Commission, 2010; OECD, 2023). International…

The purpose of this study is to examine research on school dropout in open and distance education in the Web of Science (WoS) database using bibliometric analysis and to reveal trends in this area. In line with this goal, a total of 1,615 studies published between 1980 and 2022 were identified in the Web of Science (WoS) indexes. Descriptive and…

The rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has democratised education, yet student dropout remains a persistent challenge. This research tackles this issue by analysing 1,273 publications on MOOC dropout rates (2020-2023) from the Scopus database using VOSviewer, a bibliometric analysis tool. By mapping the intellectual landscape, the study…

Postgraduate education has become increasingly crucial for nations in recent years, contributing to scientific, technological, and social progress. However, high dropout rates may undermine the benefits of postgraduate education. This study aims to identify which individual, academic, socio-economic, and institutional variables influence student…

Higher education dropout rates in Colombia are the second highest in Latin-America. Almost 50% of students who start an undergraduate program in Colombia drop out. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review that surveys publications related to university dropout in Colombia between 2000 and 2021. This review followed the Kitchenham…

There is a substantial body of research concerned with student retention in higher education. However, in regard to factors related to study environment, existing research is described as incomplete. Based on Tinto's institutional departure model and a literature review of recent international articles on dropout in higher education, this article…

Assessments in education enables educators, curriculum designers, and program developers to evaluate the success of their programs. It also allows for assessing learners enrolled in the programs. Assessment frameworks emanate from a Western and positivistic stance and tend to disregard linguistic and cultural diversity from the mainstream European…

Our study aims to identify effective activities to enhance student retention and promote student success in higher education institutions (HEIs) by reviewing the factors that affect student retention through a literature review. Our study used a systematic review with the bibliometric method to analyze 125 articles related to the retention of…

Substance use among school dropouts is a growing global concern that has not been assessed through a meta-analysis. This study aims to provide an overview of the relationship between school dropout and substance use. We searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsychINFO, ERIC (EBSCO), MEDLINE (EBSCO), and CINAHL (EBSCO)…

This paper systematically reviews the literature on the causes of leaving school early in Africa and Asia. Despite the improvement in primary school enrolment in the developing countries by 2015, the persistence of school dropout, however, renders this improvement almost insignificant. This leads to the necessity of observing the prolonged…

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning had become a fundamental part of post-secondary education. At the same time, empirical evidence from the last decade documents higher dropout online in comparison to face-to-face courses for some students. Thus, while online learning may provide students access to post-secondary education,…

This study provides a comprehensive review of the phenomenon of students dropping out from tertiary education. Student withdrawal is the result of a long decision-making process and complex interaction between several determinants. We first provide an overview of definitions, theoretical models and perspectives of dropping out. Referring to…

Although MOOCs platforms offer a unique way to provide information for a large cohort of participants, only a small percentage of participants complete MOOCs. The high number of dropouts in MOOCs is a key challenge, and the literature suggests that it can be affected by participants' motivation. However, it is not known how and to what extent…

A massive open online course (MOOC) is a powerful tool for expanding educational opportunities, but one of the major challenges facing MOOCs is the high dropout rate. Low completion rates indicate issues with student engagement and motivation. Gamification, the incorporation of game elements in non-game contexts, has shown promise in increasing…

This article investigates policymaking for Norwegian lower secondary education, with a focus on policy problems and solutions emphasising pre-vocational education. The data consist of official policy documents such as Green and White Papers, hearings, propositions to the parliament, protocols of parliamentary debates and votes in the parliament.…