PERMANENCE AND EVASION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY IN THE ACCOUNTING SCIENCES COURSE OF A PRIVATE INSTITUTION IN RIO GRANDE DO NORTE
Permanence; Evasion; University education; Private institution.
The objective of this study is to analyze the factors that influence retention and dropout in the Accounting Sciences course at a private institution in Rio Grande do Norte (RN), through a case study, analyzing the profile, demographic, socioeconomic and evaluating the particularities that involve permanence and dropout in the course under study. Two main approaches were used to collect data: analysis of institutional data on the number of students enrolled each academic semester, in addition to numbers relating to abandonment, withdrawal, transfer and cancellation of the course over the last 19 years, covering the period from 2005 to 2023. These data allowed the construction of a historical series that makes it possible to identify patterns and trends in student behavior over time and the application of a questionnaire based on the study by Castelo Branco, Nakamura and Jezine (2017). The questionnaire was designed to profile the students and assess retention through items with nominal, ordinal and scalar variables, in addition to Likert-type scales (Castelo Branco; Nakamura; Jezine, 2017). The analysis carried out showed that issues such as financial difficulties, lack of affinity with the course, personal challenges and lack of academic support are the main factors that lead to dropout. On the other hand, the competence of the teaching staff, the relevance of the programmatic content and the institutional support encourage students to remain.