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© Proceedings of the Ruhuna Quality Assurance Sessions 2021 (RUQAS 2021)
st
21 September 2021

RP8
Preliminary Causes for the University Dropout at the Faculty of Agriculture,

University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka

T.A.D. Sewwandi* and G.C. Samaraweera

Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana,
Kamburupitiya,.

* Corresponding author: sdinusha18@gmail.com

Abstract

University dropout without completing the degree is one of the prominent drawbacks that affect
institutions of higher education, individuals, and society worldwide. The current literature has focused

on identifying the internal or external characteristics of students’ neglecting the pool of aspects in
broad. This study aims to identify how career interest, financial, academic, and social factors affect the

student’s dropout to address the desertion of universities based on their justifications. A Google

questionnaire was used to collect data from 30 randomly selected dropped out undergraduates of the
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna. The majority (70 %) of participants were female. The

sample representing 80% of participants have expressed their satisfaction towards the dropout decision
while 20% have regretted their decision of leaving the degree program. This finding claims that one

out of five dropout students regrets their decision subsequently. According to the Wilcoxon Sign Rank
Test results, the deviated career interest of the undergraduates significantly influenced their decision to

drop out during the university period (p=0.043, α<0.05). However, the financial difficulties when

acquiescing essential requirements like food, clothes, etc. (p=0.463, α>0.05 accommodation (p=0.172,
α>0.05) and the academic vulnerability because of complexity (p=0.686, α>0.05), language problems

(p=0.464, α>0.05) did not significantly influence their dropout decision. The social isolation due to
unhealthy relationships with batch mates (p=0.008, α<0.05), academic staff (p=0.020, α<0.05) were

also significant and have influenced undergraduates’ dropout decisions. The academic, financial, and

social factors related issues can be addressed by developing a conceptual model that signals the
vulnerability of desertion of each undergraduate beforehand. The timely intervention of academic staff

while organizing efficient student mentoring sessions for needy students seems necessitated and also
the outcome of this study will assist the administration body to reclaim the academic policies to

diminish university dropout in advance.

Keywords: University Dropouts, Academic Vulnerability, Financial Difficulties, Social Isolation,

Career Interest

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