Analysis of university dropout in Spain: a bibliometric study

Abstract

Introduction: one of the main problems that the university system always faces, is the university dropout rates of its students, due to various variables. This is not only a problem of the Spanish university, but is widespread throughout the world, so it is necessary to know and analyse the reasons that lead to this fact in order to be able to alleviate this university dropout. Method: a quantitative-bibliometric methodology was used to explore the Web of Science and retrieve 182 scientific articles in the area of educational research for the study sample during the period from 2002 to 2021. The information sources, authors and keywords of the articles were taken as variables to carry out the relevant analyses with the RStudio and VOSviewer programmes. Results: the main journals in which the articles are published are identified, as well as the most prolific authors in the topic of university dropout. A factorial approach is carried out with the key words of the articles where we identify the main topics and problems that can lead to university students dropping out of their studies, such as certain educational policies, the rise of distance education, academic failure in basic educational stages or social, personal, psychological or economic variables. Conclusions: four main components are behind university dropout: academic failure, learning methodologies, impact and dropout. From these, specific problems to be taken into account and be the object of study and analysis, such as, among others, certain educational policies, the new virtual environments, school failure in the basic stages or various academic and personal variables.