Students' attrition from the University of Malta : A quantitative investigation

Abstract

Tertiary education is a transformative process which assists persons aged 17 and over to improve their skills and meet the needs of the evolving labour market. Although being accepted for a university degree can result in many rewards there are still a considerable number of students who leave courses without earning their qualification. The purpose of this quantitative study is to gain insight into the reasons why students drop out of a course at the University of Malta. While the topic of students' attrition has been extensively explored in other countries, this is the first of its kind locally. The data was collected through a questionnaire sent randomly to half of the University of Malta dropouts from the academic years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. The reasons for attrition differed between undergraduate and postgraduate students. The majority of the respondents who read for undergraduate degrees were not in paid employment during their studies and left university in the second semester. Most of these respondents started a new course the following academic year at the University of Malta. This is a notable finding, considering the competition that the University of Malta is increasingly having from other local and foreign educational institutions. In contrast, the majority of dropouts from post graduate degree were employed during their studies, had family commitments, left in the first month or first semester and did not start another course. Whereas female dropouts tended to view their university departures in negative terms, males tended to focus more on its positive aspects. The University of Malta should improve its support services structure in order to increase the retention rates of students, with specific interventions in cases of low academic performance or high rate of absenteeism. Further to the traditional class-based courses, virtual online courses should be increasingly promoted to meet the needs of diverse student categories.