Student Retention Measures in Engineering Programs at a Higher Education Institution Post COVID-19

Abstract

Student retention in universities is a process through which students remain enrolled and continue their studies until they graduate. This article exposes the strategies used by the Higher Education Institution of Guayaquil city, in the Industrial Engineering program, to recover the number of dropout students after the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent inconveniences. It is worth mentioning that in 2020 there were 999 students in the university program. To prevent the closure of the program, starting in 2020, the Industrial Engineering program implemented strategies in the student retention process which are still in place today. At the beginning of the process, the measures recommended by the national government were followed. Later, academic counceling created was introduced and control measures were maintained for students repeating courses for the second and third time to prevent them from abandoning their studies before completing their graduation, as industrial engineers. Despite the significant impact that the pandemic and other problems had on the retention of students in the program, there are currently 493 students. The measures adopted made it possible to keep it sustainable over time, both for the students and for the labor market.