Escape from the State University of Paraná – an exploratory study

Abstract

University dropout has been happening since the beginning of Higher Education Institutions, however, the recent pandemic caused by the new Sars-Cov-2 virus may have influenced the already known dropout rates. This paper investigated the dropout rates of the State University of Paraná (UNESPAR) regarding the years 2018 to 2022. The data for analysis were obtained from the data released by the Pró-Reitoria de ensino de Graduação da Unespar. The results point out that in 2018 the number of dropouts was 1338, with the Campo Mourão campus leading with 257. In 2019, the evasion increased by approximately 21% and the Campo Mourão campus continued to lead the indices. In 2020 there was a decreasing trend in dropouts, approximately 3.5% from the previous one. In 2021 the decrease in the number of dropouts continued, even in the midst of the pandemic. In 2022, so far, there has been a sharp increase, approximately 30%, in the dropout rate. It is not possible to guess what were the reasons that justify this high dropout rate. However, we point out the need for further studies to be conducted in order to understand this configuration. Several reasons can be highlighted along with the pandemic, among them the lack of internet access, economic instability, poor health, among others. Thus, it is possible to consider that the pandemic did not influence the HEI to some extent since in 2019 and 2020, when the pandemic was at its peak, there was no increase in evasion.