Business programme dropout causes and the ceiling of retention

[EN] Dropping out of school is traditionally frowned upon by judging the individual and pointing out supply-side waste – resources have been spent without the intended output of a capable graduate. This paper analyses views of dropouts from a local business administration undergraduate programme in...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lember, Elo, Niine, Tarvo, Küttim, Merle
Tipo de recurso: capítulo de libro
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/191986
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/191986
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Undergraduate business education
Student attrition
College dropout causes
Programme development
Value of learning
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Dropping out of school is traditionally frowned upon by judging the individual and pointing out supply-side waste – resources have been spent without the intended output of a capable graduate. This paper analyses views of dropouts from a local business administration undergraduate programme in Estonia. The survey and interviews focused on ex-students 2-15 years post-leave to chart a spectrum of dropout causes, resulting impacts and personal reflections. The data suggests the majority of students perceive significant value in their cut-short college experience, while a minority expressed various hard feelings. The paper discusses the extent to which student retention can be increased in the focal case (retention ceiling around 75%) and anticipated improvement actions. The data shows that learning without diploma is still perceived as valuable learning, which fits modern business education paradigm. Therefore the paper argues against viewing graduation rate as the main KPIs in business studies at publicly funded school.