Page 74 - Proceedings-edit-2021_09_20-final

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

The variables to identify the family background by means of parents' educational qualification,
financial viability, and the number of dependents were considered. Moreover, students' vulnerability to

the academic context given complex system theories, language problems, examination matters, and the

workload were also observed in the study. Finally, student interest in their career choices was also
taken into account. Several questions like the level of agreement for the above-mentioned causes were

asked to determine the underlying causes of their trajectory action. Consequently, this study allows
examining the relationship between undergraduates' socioeconomic characteristics with their tune-out

decisions. The secondary data was gathered through reports, journals, etc.

In this survey, analysis was conducted based on two areas. They are the level of importance of social

relationships for the students and the cognitive ability of the students. The data were analyzed using
SPSS statistical software. The descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate the undergraduates’

socio-economic features, and the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was conducted to analyze the weight of
the effect of each factor on their ultimate decision to desert the university. A Chi-square test was

conducted to evaluate the cumulative effects through exposing the relationship between

undergraduates’ socioeconomic characteristics with the principal causes of the dropout.

Results and Discussion

The sample includes 56.67% of undergraduates pursuing BSc Agricultural Resource Management &
Technology, 30% pursuing BSc Agribusiness Management, and 13.33% pursuing BSc Green

Technology degree programmes. Among all, the majority of 70% of the participants are females. The

participants representing the sample are currently engaged in different fields. The majority (43.33%)
are pursuing a permanent job, 3.33% are self-employed, and 6.67% are engaged in temporary

employment, while 43.33% are continuing their further education. However, 3.33% of respondents are
still unemployed. The majority, 80% of participants have expressed their satisfaction towards the

decision to drop out while 20% have regretted their choice to leave the degree program. These results
show that one out of five dropout students regret their decision later on. Table 1 illustrates the

Wilcoxon Sign Rank test results undergraduates' level of agreement for each attribute of the dropout

reasons.

The preliminary cause underlying the Faculty dropouts has been revealed as deviated career interest of
the undergraduates. It has significantly influenced students' dropout decisions (p= 0.043, α<0.05), and

the participants agreed that they found the degree program doesn't fit with their career interests with

time. Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner (2008) once revealed the fact that household economic
conditions and credit constraints might be the reasons for being unable to afford university and for

abandoning studies.
57