Evasão na Unipampa - Campus Dom Pedrito : o que pensam os estudantes?

Abstract

This study seeks to understand, from the perspective of regular students, the factors that influence dropout rates in undergraduate courses at the Universidade Federal do Pampa (Unipampa) Dom Pedrito Campus, in order to identify strategies to mitigate the dropout problem, starting from the identification of the greatest difficulties encountered by students during their academic career. The interest in the topic is justified by the fact that the democratization of access to higher education does not only involve the offer of places, but also creating conditions for students to remain until the end of their degree, and that I have noticed over the years of working in the academic secretariat that before we had a significant number of new entrants and graduates in the courses, and over the years these numbers have been decreasing, especially in undergraduate courses. The discussions are based on the theoretical framework of: Mec (1996), Rodriguez (2011), Lobo (2012), Nunes and Veloso (2016), Wilhelm and Schlosser (2018), Machado and Carvalho (2020), Morares et al (2020), Silva and Carvalho (2021), Silva and Cabral (2022), Da Cruz (2023), among others. This is a qualitative, explanatory research and a case study, with data collection through a mixed questionnaire. The target audience is 65 regular students of the Bachelor's Degree in Natural Sciences and Bachelor's Degree in Rural Education courses; mostly women; between 45 and 60 years old; with an income of up to one minimum wage; self-declared white; born in Dom Pedrito; who chose Unipampa because it is public/free; entrants through the specific selection process; entrants through the broad competition. The factors indicated by the respondents as determining factors for dropout were organized into three perspectives: internal, external and personal. Internal factors include the difficulty in reconciling studies and work, learning difficulties, lack of motivating activities, economic factors, lack of retention policies, low availability of scholarships and grants, lack of psychological support, unmotivated teaching staff, welcoming and lack of spaces for socializing. External factors include: lack of adaptation to the city, lack of internship opportunities, transportation and insecurity. Personal factors include: personal/family factors, distance from family, difficulty using technological resources and lack of adaptation to the university. We realize that there are countless factors that can influence student retention in undergraduate courses, but that many of them require a reflective view of management and measures that do not require financial support can be taken to minimize barriers, such as: creating spaces for dialogue, promoting conversation circles, pedagogical support actions, monitoring, reinforcement classes, teacher awareness actions, digital literacy courses and offering pedagogical training to teaching staff.