Student retention policies in higher education: reflections from a literature review for the Brazilian context

Abstract

Dropout in higher education is a matter of global interest, and several policies were created to encourage students to stay in universities. This article aimed to identify patterns of evaluation of student retention policies in higher education through a systematic literature review, selecting 39 documents from Scopus, Sage Journals, Web of Science, Google academic, and CAPES Periodicals. Regarding evaluation forms, the results indicated the predominance of analyses on the effects of policies on dropout. However, some studies evaluated students’ performance and time to graduation. Research works were mostly applied in public university environments, which indicates a scarcity of scientific production about private educational institutions. As for the formats of permanence policies, the literature pointed out four types of aid with different natures: financial, assistance, based on academic merit, and by criteria of students’ need/vulnerability. Based on the research, it was proposed that the evaluation of permanence policies should be threefold, considering permanence, performance, and time until graduation. Among the gaps in the literature, comparative studies between the types of policies were highlighted.