Analyzing Factors Accountable for Success in Completing University Studies

Abstract

The analysis of success in completing university studies and implicitly of student dropout rates have recently become topics of great interest for researchers and policy-makers. This may be explained by the fact that completion rates play an important role in assessing the quality of teaching which further influences potential students in choosing the higher education institution. A large number of publications investigating the success rates and dropout rates focus on institutional policies, measuring the effectiveness of specific institutional measures to improve graduation success and reduce student dropout. In this paper we analyze several factors accountable for success in higher education. We perform an exploratory factor analysis on a dataset consisting of 61 items, by using the method of extraction of principal components and subsequent Varimax rotation. The results obtained enable identifying several relevant factors accountable for success in higher education and assessing their impact on reducing the dropout rate.

Keywords

• factor analysis
• principal components
• higher education
• student dropout