ASIA1a, an online tool for analyzing university freshmen drop-out

Abstract

All higher education institutions are concerned about dropout. In Spain, dropout rates fluctuate between 30 and 50%, according to data from the Spanish Universities Rectors Conference. Therefore, many universities perform studies to analyse its causes and develop retention programs, often fostering and counseling their freshmen, since numerous studies confirm that the highest dropout rates correspond to first-year students.

This paper presents the online software ASIA^1a and the results obtained by applying it in order to facilitate the diagnosis of the first-year dropout problem at the Oviedo University.

Using ASIA^1a, we have detected the score for access to university and academic achievement as significant variables and identified those degrees that require more in-depth diagnosis, therefore further analysis about Law degree have been implemented using SPSS statistical package, identifying the number of credits passed as the best predictor of student persistence.

ASIA^1a favors the decision-making process to be developed by the Educational Administration, in order to improve retention, with the systematic evaluation of the persistence rate, and the impact on this indicator of retention programs. Furthermore, it allows to identify the more relevant variables and those degrees that need further study, laying the foundation that should direct the student guiding actions and promoting the effectiveness of these interventions.