The Dropout of First-Year STEM Students: Is It Worth Looking beyond Academic Achievement?

Joana R. Casanova (), Adrián Castro-López, Ana B. Bernardo and Leandro S. Almeida
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Joana R. Casanova: Research Centre on Child Studies (CIEC), Institute of Education, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Adrián Castro-López: Department of Business Administration, University of Oviedo, 33003 Oviedo, Spain
Ana B. Bernardo: Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, 33003 Oviedo, Spain
Leandro S. Almeida: Department of Basic Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: The expansion of Higher Education increased the diversity of students, with heterogenous characteristics, needs, and values. Institutions, intending to preserve the mission and the transformative potential of the tertiary level of education, are facing and implementing policies and practices that enhance success conditions, persistence, and avoid student dropout, in order to meet the goals for sustainable development of people and societies. The present study aims to analyze the impact of personal and academic variables on students’ academic difficulties in adaption to HE, academic achievement, and dropout among first-year STEM students. From a cohort of STEM first-year students at a Portuguese public university, the participants numbered 1376. Applying the structural equation modelling, the results highlight the effect of the variables age, gender, scholarship, and grade point average on access to higher education, difficulties in adapting to higher education, and dropout decision. Understanding STEM students who have already dropped out can contribute to better identification of institutional actions to prevent and reduce its occurrence, especially in first-year students.

Keywords: higher education; first-year students; student adjustment; academic achievement; dropout (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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