Facteurs déterminants du décrochage des études au premier cycle universitaire: cas de la faculté des arts, lettres et sciences humaines de l’université de Yaoundé I (Cameroun)

Abstract

This thesis, entitled Determinants of Dropping Out of Undergraduate Studies examines the factors that may explain dropping out of undergraduate post-secondary studies at the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Human Sciences (FALSH) at the University of Yaounde I. The main question of this research is as follows: what are the factors that determine the dropout from FALSH undergraduate studies at the University of Yaounde I? The research to the answer of this question allowed us to formulate the following general hypothesis: personal, socioeconomic and academic factors are related to dropping out of studies in the first cycle of FALSH at the University of Yaounde I. The study population is made up of students who registered at the FALSH in 2015 and who dropped out of their studies before the end of the License cycle in 2018. Our research estimate is quantitative. Indeed, we constructed a questionnaire and submitted it to a representative sample of the study population in order to verify the link between individual, socioeconomic and academic/school factors and dropping out of undergraduate studies in the first cycle of the institution. This questionnaire was administered to a sample of 338 participants selected using stratified and convenience sampling methods. The sample size was defined from the table of sample size (E) required for each population (P) of Krejcie and Morgan taken up by Amin (2005). As data analysis technique, we used correlation and Pearson chi-square. The theoretical posture of this research summons the interactional theory which breaks down through psychological, sociological, economic and organizational theories. Regarding the results of this research, apart from the relationship between schooling and dropping out of university studies, which has been invalidated, all the other research hypotheses have been confirmed; which confirms the general hypothesis. These results led us to infer the existence of a relationship between personal, socio-economic, academic/school factors and dropping out of FALSH undergraduate studies at the University of Yaoundé I. The results obtained lead us to make suggestions for several parts of the public such as politicians, parents, university guidance counsellors.