Abstract

College drop-out of undergraduate engineering students from 2004 until January 2007 was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier model to evaluate the retention rate of students. Drop-out factors were determined using a Cox model for proportional risks. The results show that it is most likely that dropouts take place within the first three terms and mainly affect those students coming from public school, financed by the government. Retention decisive factors are: high average high school grades, access to the national system of university credit, high average grade in the national university selection exam, secondary education with a scientific and humanities oriented curriculum, and high family incomes. The most common drop-out factors are also discussed and solutions to diminish university desertion are proposed.