Dropout of first year undergraduate students: A case study of engineering students

Abstract

The phenomenon of drop out studies appears in the current Romanian context as an acute problem of the national education system. In the present research we will try to identify how factors such as the average obtained in the baccalaureate exam, the place of provenance and the number of credits obtained at the end of the first year of study influence the abandonment. Using a bivariate analysis method, we followed the correlation between the variables »number of students expelled after the first year of study» in the case of students enrolled in the first year of study and having obtained a »grade less than or equal to 7 in the baccalaureate exam» and, respectively the correlation between the variable »number of students expelled after the first year of study» and the origin from urban or rural areas. As can be seen from the data collected, an obvious need to investigate the expectation of students at high risk of drop out-as regards the teacher-student relationship-can be presumed: what are the most effective ways of transmitting knowledge and what communication is acceptable by college students.