Un modello longitudinale per l’analisi della dispersione degli studi nell’Ateneo «Sapienza» di Roma

Abstract

A longitudinal Model for the University Drop-Out Rates in the «Sapienza» University of Rome

The analysis of study tracks and student drop-out in the university system may be conducted using different statistical models. A longitudinal study (panel) was adopted at Rome’s «Sapienza» University, assessing subjects over time, unlike the methodology followed by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Scientific Research and by the Italian National Commission for the Evaluation of the University System, which instead consider «renewable universes»: that is, all students enrolled at Italian universities in all academic years, whether they complete their studies or not. The article presents «Sapienza» University’s analysis method for 16 cohorts of students enrolled between academic years 1991/92 and 2006/07, corresponding to 409,554 students (10 cohorts for a total of 261,386 students who enrolled in the old university system and 6 cohorts, for a total of 145,653 students who enrolled in the new university system). The study used a longitudinal multidimensional model based on individual data concerning the students’ university careers for all «Sapienza» degree programmes in the years concerned (all data taken from SATIS – the IT centre supporting «Sapienza» University). The research provided a more realistic description of such things as student drop-out, course progress, student mobility and outcomes, and offers institutional decision-makers a tool for analysing and monitoring the university system.