Determinants of University Dropout: A Case of Thailand

Student dropout is a growing concern for educational institutions across the world and extensive research on this issue has been done in past few decades. In this study, we analyzed the determinants of student propensity to dropout at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani campus. The data comprised 10,377 students enrolled between the 2007 and 2011 academic years. Variables included in the analysis were admission year, faculty, gender-religion, first semester GPA and admission type. The overall dropout rate over the five-year period was 23.9%, and a decreasing trend in dropout rate was found from second semester and onwards. A logistic regression model was used to determine the effect of explanatory variables on dropout. The findings indicate that admission year, gender-religion, faculty and first semester GPA are strongly associated with student dropout.