Resumen

Colombia has experienced a strong demand from students from a wide variety of geographical locations and socioeconomic backgrounds who want access to higher education. To ensure the reception of all students, strategies have been developed to increase the supply of education and facilitate access through innovative modalities such as virtual or distance learning. However, despite these improvements in the coverage of the educational system, high university dropout rate is a challenge for Colombia. This research focuses on analyzing the dropout factors in distance learning universities. For this purpose, a survey has been designed that collects, through 62 items, demographic, socio-economic, academic, technological infrastructure and satisfaction information. The sample consisted of 384 students with the intention of dropping out of any of 403 undergraduate programs in virtual modality, with active qualified registration as of June 2019, according to the SNIES. A quantitative research based on the logistic regression method was conducted and the results indicate how among other variables, student satisfaction with their university is associated with quality differences of offered services and academic content that are factors associated with student retention. The results allow to conclude that universities have a crucial role in order to guarantee continuation in education for all students, obliged to provide quality and equitable educational response with special attention to the most vulnerable population.

Palabras clave