Abstract

ALANIS NAVARRO, José Andrés; ALANIS CANTU, Reynaldo  and  BARON, Agustin. Internal & external causes determining the academic performance of the university student. RIDE. Rev. Iberoam. Investig. Desarro. Educ [online]. 2020, vol.11, n.21, e019.  Epub Mar 09, 2021. ISSN 2007-7467.  https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v11i21.719.

This work presents an analysis of some factors associated with the failure of students who are studying engineering. A subject is considered failed if the final grade is less than seven. The sample was composed of ninety-one students who are in the 7th semester of Energy Engineering, Environmental Technology Engineering and Telematics Engineering. The sample represents 59,9% of the population. The data were collected through a 24-question instrument. The age of the students ranges between 20 and 36 years. As possible internal factors, which are directly associated with the student, include: the extra time the student dedicates to study, the choice of desired career, or the time dedicated to other personal activities, among other factors. As possible external factors are analyzed the socioeconomic status of the family income, the quality of teaching, the quality of infrastructure of the university, among other factors. An analysis of descriptive statistics of each factor is carried out and a summary of the relevant information is presented. Likewise, the degree and type of correlation between each factor and the number of failed subjects per student is determined. In addition, the factors associated with the student's career satisfaction are presented. The variables Age, Family members, Work time, Monthly income, Daily spending, and Drug consumption, does not present any type of correlation with the variable of interest. The students' performance is mainly related to internal factors that are aspects that only depend on the student himself; only the external factor Student's relation is associated with its performance. On the other hand, the feeling of satisfaction of the student for the studied career depends mainly on external factors such as Family support, Teaching quality, Teacher and Student relation, and Infrastructure quality; the only internal factor is the self-concept of comprehension. This information is intended to make concrete proposals to prevent or reduce school drop-out, as well as to lessen the possible negative social effects that this phenomenon may cause in the short or medium term.

Keywords : Scholar performance; self-concept of comprehension; linear correlation coefficient; Pearson coefficient; Spearman coefficient.

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