Abstract

This paper focuses on the identification of factors related to students’ retention. This study was conducted at Politécnico Internacional (Bogotá, Colombia), a private higher education institution. To collect the data, some ad hoc surveys were administered to a sample of 1487 students. Concerning the student’s retention, results highlight the importance of variables such as the quality and profile of the academic program offered. The influence of motivational factors and personal satisfaction about the students’ persistence within the academic program is also observed. These two variables, retention and persistence, are characterized in this paper as independent processes, susceptible to study, which interact and have a direct effect on retention in higher education.

Keywords: dropout; retention; higher education; technical education