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Drop‐outs from S wiss Universities: an empirical analysis of data on all students between 1975 and 2008
Author(s) -
Wolter Stefan C.,
Diem Andrea,
Messer Dolores
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1465-3435
pISSN - 0141-8211
DOI - 10.1111/ejed.12096
Subject(s) - drop out , drop (telecommunication) , demographic economics , eye drop , population , mathematics education , psychology , demography , econometrics , mathematics , sociology , economics , medicine , computer science , ophthalmology , telecommunications
This study presents in‐depth empirical analyses of drop‐outs from all S wiss universities for the entire student population between 1975 and 2008. The results show that most identifiable factors associated with a greater or lesser probability of dropping out are identical to those found in a recent S ystematic R eview ( L arsen et al ., 2013). The main findings are that: first, since the 1970s, there has been a marked trend towards falling drop‐out rates which is largely due to female students who, today, have lower drop‐out rates than their male counterparts; secondly, not only are there different drop‐out rates for specific subjects of study, but there are also differences in baccalaureate profiles, which indicates that the skills acquired prior to entering university have a great impact on successful study; thirdly, students who change their first subject choice are at great risk of dropping out. No firm conclusions can yet be drawn about the B ologna reform but, based on the subjects which changed to the B achelor/ M aster system between 2001 and 2003, no reduction in drop‐out rates can be found as a result of the reform.