Modelo de medición y análisis de la deserción universitaria. Validación y aplicación al caso de dos países de América Latina

Abstract

With the purpose of contributing to the analysis of the phenomenon of desertion, and thus contributing to its study, monitoring and analysis, the framework of the ACACIA project (Financed by the European Union), advanced in the analysis of the state of university desertion, in five Latin American countries (Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Nicaragua), as well as in the identification of its causes. Additionally, 3 CADEP, "Cooperation Centers for the Promotion, Strengthening and Transfer and Good Practices that Support, Cultivate, Adapt, Communicate, Innovate and Welcome the university community" were created, one of them at the Francisco José de Caldas District University . Likewise, the CADEP-ACACIA Network was created, which is in charge of training, advice, accompaniment and orientation in situations that limit access to learning, academic performance and minimizing student desertion in higher education institutions, in whose framework, and as a short-term purpose, was raised the need to create a Regional University Dropout Observatory, ODUR; One of the purposes of the ODUR is the permanent monitoring and analysis of university desertion in Latin American countries. For the purposes of the analysis of desertion, various models have been proposed, reported in the literature, which have been applied in different contexts, however, when analyzing the variables involved in them, conceptual and methodological differences are found in their report, in each country . Within the framework of the ACACIA Project, progress was made in the identification and characterization of some of the dimensions that affect university student dropout, including poor academic performance, didactic tension, and the institutional dimension. That is why, as a first approximation to a methodology, the "Methodological Foundations for the Compilation, Harmonization, Analysis and Reporting of Dropout Information" were created, as input for a Regional Observatory of University Dropout. Case: Peru, Chile, Nicaragua and Colombia" (Benítez, 2019). Some of the variables involved in the existing dropout models are complex to measure and the definitions and data collection methodologies vary in each country and in each institution. Therefore, in order to have a model for measuring, analyzing and monitoring university dropouts, which also responds to the ACACIA approach, it is necessary to verify and validate the methodological foundations identified by Benítez (2019) and, from this refine and apply the model, as a preliminary pilot exercise, which will allow the generation of a refined methodology for the harmonization and analysis of desertion in different Latin American countries, as an exercise prior to implementation in the ODUR.