Reasons for expulsion: why every fifth student does not graduate

According to statistics, 21% of students of Russian universities "do not reach" to receive a diploma, interrupting their studies. Why is this happening? HSE analysts conducted a study highlighting the main factors that could cause expulsion from a university.

Lack of motivation

It is far from always the choice of the faculty to which yesterday’s schoolchild enters is conscious. For many, students are not preparing for the "dream job, " but just a few more years "at their desk." Admission to the university is often due to the desire to "be like everyone else" (in fact at least some higher education is now perceived as a necessity) or to avoid military service. In addition, the direction of training is often chosen under parental pressure.

As studies have shown, if a student does not have confidence that he has chosen the “work of life” correctly, he is most often interested not in the learning process, but only in obtaining a diploma. And this motivation is not enough: the need to spend a lot of time on "uninteresting" subjects leads to an "allergy to study", and after that - to expulsion. And this is one of the most common reasons why students leave college.

Decision to change specialty

About 40% of students who decide to stop studying at a university explain their decision with a change in professional interests. Some of them are transferred to another faculty or department within the framework of the university, but most leave the educational institution. Moreover, not all of them again seek to sit on the student bench - every fifth of those expelled for this reason comes to the conclusion that they do not need higher education at this stage of life.

Such a choice is often shocking to relatives and friends, but according to experts, such a “change of course” is natural: the time of study at a university coincides with the time of growing up, shaping a person’s personality, and the “trial and error” method at this stage is the age norm. In addition, some psychologists believe that for most people the age of conscious career guidance is a twenty-year milestone, so the decision to change the direction of training at this age is understandable.

Contributes to deductions for this reason and the "rigidity" of the Russian system of higher education. If, for example, in the USA you can enter a chosen university, and you can decide on a specific field of study already during the training process, in Russia most of the applicants go to a specific specialty, and transferring to another one even at the same university is difficult.

Reevaluation of own opportunities

Every fourth case of expulsion is caused by the fact that, choosing the direction of preparation, the student overestimated his abilities (or underestimated the difficulty of studying at this university). Indeed, a well-mastered school English course does not guarantee that the student is able to study foreign languages ​​professionally, and the "five" in mathematics - that he can cope with the course of compromising language. After all, a university course is a completely different volume, and a fundamentally different level of complexity and load, and it is usually not customary to conduct adaptation programs for freshmen in Russian universities. In addition, in some educational institutions (for example, engineering), training programs are "overloaded" with not the simplest disciplines.

If the difficulties are local, and the student is hardly given any of the sections of the course, he usually manages it himself or with the help of fellow students or teachers. But if you have to “fight” with all the materials of the training course, especially when it comes to specialized subjects, this can lead to an absolute loss of interest in learning or depression.

Too many hobbies

Every fifth leaving university admits that one of the reasons for expulsion was the inability to “find a balance” between studies and hobbies. For someone at this stage of growing up, a hobby turned out to be more important than sitting behind textbooks, someone was let down by the inability to properly manage their time.

Combining study and work

The combination of studying at a university with work is an equally frequent reason for expulsion (20%). Part-time work is a very common phenomenon in our country; according to statistics, more than half of students work temporarily or permanently during their studies. Moreover, if labor activity is related to the profile of training, then constant practice helps a lot to master knowledge, and this has been noted repeatedly.

However, work takes time, and often this is to the detriment of homework, preparation of course projects, and so on. In such cases, academic failure and “departure” from the university are not so rare.

Inability to "fit" into the academic environment

About 18% of those who expelled said that they could not "join" the student team, one in four - that they did not find a "common language" with teachers. In essence, university life is an “academic format” of relationships, and those who are not able to accept the norms of interaction in this environment become outsiders. And the inability to compromise, increased conflict, lack of flexibility and inability to build relationships - does not contribute to success anywhere.

Health status

Admission to the university for many is a very sharp change in lifestyle, daily routine and nutrition (this is especially true for nonresidents moving from their parents' homes to a hostel). Plus lack of sleep, bad habits, severe stress and overwork during sessions

At the same time, since many younger students are still physiologically transitioning, with medical problems inherent to them, the health status of many students can be described as "precarious." It is not surprising that health problems are another of the common reasons for deductions; 19% of those surveyed noted it.