Student retention, academic lagging and dropout of students with disabilities at the Central University of Ecuador: an approximation of these phenomena in the period 2014-2019

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze to the situation of students with disabilities at a public university in Ecuador, based on student retention, academic lagging and dropout, founded on previous research. This work carried out due to the limited available literature on people with disabilities at higher education in Ecuador, an extremely minority group in this sphere, since until 2018 only 1.29 % accessed the higher level of education, which makes it imperative to know about its true reality, hence the need to analyze these aspects of the right to education. The study applies a qualitative approach and its levels are exploratory and descriptive. We worked with a sample of fifteen students with physical, visual, hearing, language and psychosocial disabilities based on the information provided by the institution. Interviews were also conducted with eight authorities responsible for the areas of interest. The results reveal the existence of high rates of repetitiveness, which in short is the most obvious problem; however, dropout, although to a lesser extent, is present, which demands greater concern on the part of educational institutions to implement institutionalized policies, departments and specialized programs aimed at promoting the permanence and academic success of students with disabilities.