Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent of dropout students and identify the relationship between risk factors of dropout and the survival time of students. Design/methodology/approach: The Kaplan-Meier estimator (KM), also known as the product-limit technique, is a nonparametric model function that is commonly used in…

Purpose: This study aims to advance the understanding on individual variations in PhD candidates' personal interest in their doctorate and supervisory and research community support, and several individual and structural attributes potentially having an impact on the profiles. Design/methodology/approach: The authors explored the interrelationship…

Academic failure is an important and personal event in the lives of university students, and the ways they make sense of experiences of failure matters for their persistence and future success. Academic failure contributes to attrition, yet the extent of this contribution and precipitating factors of failure are not well understood. To illuminate…

The tutor's role in enhancing student retention in distance learning is paramount. This study aims to predict retention and not actual retention by investigating how tutoring support predicts student retention in distance learning at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Moore Transactional Distance Theory underpinned the theoretical framework of…

We present an educational data analytics case study aimed at the early detection of potential dropout in Computer Engineering studies in Cuba. We have employed institutional data of 456 students and performed several experiments for predicting their permanency into three (promotion, repetition, and dropout) or two classes (promoting, not…

This study examined graduation and persistence among social and behavioral science students at a regional comprehensive university. Hazard analyses identified predictors of student trajectories, times at which predictors were more or less impactful, and interactions between predictors such that particular risk factors were more detrimental for…

The purpose of this investigation was to develop an ultra-short questionnaire that reliably predicted re-enrollment. Two binary stepwise logistic regressions were performed using re-enrollment status as the criterion. The first regression, conducted with a subsample of 4619 undergraduates, reduced 32 items drawn from the College Persistence…

Researchers have been working to understand the high dropout rates in computer science (CS) education. Despite the great demand for CS professionals, little is known about what influences individuals to complete their CS studies. We identify gains of studying CS, the (learning) environment, degree's usefulness, and barriers as important predictors…

Students suffer from stress as a result of many factors, including educational unpreparedness, financial strain and inability to integrate socially. This mixed methods study aimed to investigate stress levels of undergraduate students in a post-1992, Scottish university and the potential for measures of stress to act as an indicator of a student's…

A study examined the variables affecting individuals' decisions to discontinue attendance in or complete their adult basic education (ABE) program. The study sample consisted of 2,323 students enrolled in an ABE program through an urban community college in the Midwest over a 2-year period. Data were derived from student records and program…

The influence of academic, demographic, and social characteristics of college freshmen on sophomore enrollment status was investigated, along with reasons for attrition. A total of 139 freshmen at St. Edward's University in Texas were surveyed at the beginning and end of the freshman year, using the Survey of Entering Freshmen and the End of…

Beginning in 1992, Atlantic Community College, in New Jersey, conducted a 4-semester study to determine which factors resulted in student attrition and whether the factors that affected retention changed during the study period. The study population included 119 degree-seeking students who entered in January 1992 and who took the state's basic…

Researchers investigated whether enrollment in high school vocational/business courses had more holding power than personal, social factors, using High School and Beyond survey data to examine 12 variables. Peer interest, sense of social belonging, and relationships with school staff differentially related to persistence, but participation in…

Student and institutional characteristics related to college freshman persistence were studied. Persistence was examined for 5 institutions (5,950 students) at 4 points in time: end of first term, reenrollment in the spring, end of spring term, and reenrollment in the fall of the sophomore year. Data from a variety of sources were used, and…

Data on the Y95 cohort (first interviewed in 1995 when in Year 9) of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth were analyzed to identify the effects of student employment on participation and attrition in secondary school and tertiary study and on young people's activities after secondary school. Working between 1 and 5 hours during Year 9 of…