| Abstract: | Student attrition is a universal problem in the academic arena. It has both educational and
cost implications. Education is meant to produce competent citizens in various disciplines
based on societal needs. Greater attrition rate implies missing the target of education that
meant to meet. This study is done to find out the extent and causes of attrition in St. Mary’s
University College and suggest possible remedies thereof. In so doing, a mixed approach to
analytical research that entertains both qualitative and quantitative techniques was employed.
The main data sources for the study were students who experienced poor academic
performance in the period referred herein. To supplement/complement the data obtained from
students, department heads, faculty deans, documents from the Registrar, and Student Affairs
Office, and relevant literature were also explored and used to substantiate the findings of the
study. For the gathering of qualitative data, convenient sampling technique was used.
Eleven suspended students and three department heads and three deans were interviewed by
posing various unstructured, semi-structured, and structured open-ended questions. The
study tried to illicit their perceptions through in-depth interviews. A total of 213 students who
were readmitted in the first semester of the year 2001 were asked to complete a questionnaire
prepared for them. Out of this, 67 (31.5%) responded.
The study, by and large, indicated that student attrition is a problem sufficient to draw
managerial attention in the institution. The attributable factors are linked to the various areas
of the learning process. Thus, tackling student attrition can not be taken as a unilateral activity.
There is interdependence of factors that work in favor of student drop out. It has to be seen in
a holistic approach by paying attention to individual differences and tackling every problem in
the teaching-learning process that contributes to student attrition. |
