Adaptability skills and the intention to drop out in university students

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analyse the relationship between two factors of special relevance for the teaching-learning processes in higher education during the confinement caused by COVID-19: The capacity to adapt and the intention to drop out. The effects of the pandemic have been felt in educational contexts and, in the case of university education, it has led to the change from a face-to-face teaching model to a totally virtual one. For this reason, the objective of the research was aimed at verifying whether students with lower adaptability skills to cope with the new educational conditions imposed by the pandemic had greater intentions to abandon training. The data collection was carried out by means of an online questionnaire, answered by a sample of 1519 first- and second-year students from all undergraduate degrees at the University of La Laguna. The results confirmed that a considerable percentage of students considered abandoning the university education they had begun, especially those enrolled in degrees in the field of Social and Legal Sciences. The students with the best grades are those who showed the least intention to drop out. On the other hand, the higher the scores obtained in the adaptability dimensions (concern, control, curiosity and confidence), the lower the intention to quit. Important implications for practice are derived from the study, such as training students in adaptability skills to cope with changes and different situations related to their training process.