An econometric analysis of the determinants of student dropout behavior: the case of further education sector in England

This work analyses the determinants of dropout behavior in the Further Education sector in England. More specifically, the first chapter describe the theoretical framework for the analysis of student withdrawal and provides a review of the literature on the main determinants of dropout behavior. The second chapter focuses on the effect of college and programme area size on the probability of dropping out both partially and completely. It introduces the concept of partial dropout showing that students that dropped out of some modules but not all the ones they were enrolled on react to changes in college and programme area size similarly to the ones that dropped out completely. The third chapter analyses the causal effect of enrolling in a recently merged Further Education college on the probability of dropping out. We employ the propensity score matching approach and check the quality of our matching and the sensitivity of the estimates to the failure of the unconfoundedness assumption. Our findings show that enrolling in a merged college reduces the probability of dropping out.