Management data from the Public Policy Management Course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte have generated an alert: the large number of students who do not complete the course. This is university dropout, defined as dropping out of the course before its conclusion. This study deals with the problem of university evasion in the Public Policy Management course from the perspective of students who left the course between 2009 and 2019, seeking to elucidate the form of admission, factors that influenced the choice of the course, reasons for dropping out and the profile of the evaded. An online questionnaire was used as a research instrument, from which participants will answer about what made them drop out of the course and whether, in their opinion, something could have prevented it. Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, resulting in an institutional diagnosis, in order to obtain an investigation that would provide a comprehensive view of the researched situation. The data obtained revealed that among the external factors, the “difficulty in reconciling study and work” was the most mentioned factor as a determining factor for dropping out of graduation. As forthe internal factors, the “personal reasons”, according to the respondents, were decisive in defining the academic path. It was also exposed by the participants that the “lack of guidance at the beginning and during the course” contributed to the dropout. This factor deserves greater relevance, as it is an institutional support. With this study, we sought to understand and intervene on the dropout phenomenon in the context of higher education,

especially the GPP course at UFRN, which can be seen as a contribution of actions that enable the reduction of dropout rates in the institution.