A retenção em cursos do Centro de Ciências Agrárias da UFES : uma análise da percepção da Comunidade Universitária

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to identify, from the perception of the university community, why the students are retained on Undergraduate Courses in Centro de Ciências Agrárias –UFES. Retained students stands for the student who require more time than the foreseen in the course curriculum. This is a qualitative and quantitative research approach. It is a descriptive study and the methodological procedures which characterize the investigation are of a case study, since it aimed to generate knowledge about a particular situation: the student’s retention in CCA. During the data collection, we used as instruments: interview, questionnaire and the analysis of primary literature sources. The sample covered the CCA Courses that had higher retention rates: Agronomy, Computer Science, Geology, Chemistry and Systems of Information. The research heard the professors of the five courses in analysis who are in management position and their 217 subjects identified as retained students. The application of the Content Analysis led us to identify the factors that lead students to be retained and also to categorize the narratives produced. The theoretical basis on which we rely is mainly in the studies of Tinto (2012) and Pereira (2013). The theme categories found pointed as barriers to the integration of the course institutional factors such as: curriculum, teacher training, the subjects offered and the Center management. Personal problems were also identified and derive from: motivation for studies, family distance, work, professorstudent relationship and health problems. In the analysis of the perception of the university community we found that retention is mainly due to failure in the disciplines of the exact grounded on factors that lead to student failure with the disciplines and thus to be retained. From the results achieved we identified possible alternatives to minimize student retention in UFES that are already being thought not only to the Center researched but to the University as a whole. Some actions that have already been implemented are the result of previous researchers and some others are still under discussion, but they already include proposals that were generated during the development of this work.