Institutional evidence to reduce first-semester university dropout, early alerts, student support, and learning communities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/asce.v5i1.639Keywords:
Student retention; University dropout; First year; Early alert systems; Mentoring; Learning communities.Abstract
Dropout in the first semester and first year of university remains a major quality and equity challenge, in virtue of its links to academic delay, lost opportunities, and institutional costs, this review aimed to synthesize recent evidence on institutional strategies to reduce first-year dropout, focusing on student support programs, early alert systems, tutoring, mentoring, advising, and transition frameworks, we reviewed 30 open-access studies published between 2020 and 2026 across face-to-face, hybrid, and online contexts, findings showed that the most consistent evidence for persistence and retention came from structured academic communities, including linked-course models and identity-based learning communities, as well as first-year curricular devices with systematic follow-up, early warning approaches were most useful when integrated with clear, personalized intervention pathways and timely human support, whereas automated nudges increased short-term engagement with less consistent effects on final academic performance, course-integrated academic supports such as supplemental instruction and scalable peer mentoring were associated with improved achievement and favorable signals for continued enrollment, overall, evidence indicates that reducing early dropout is strengthened when institutions combine early detection, structured academic supports, and a coordinated transition architecture that improves access, continuity, and implementation coherence.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Adriana Virginia Montenegro Cucas, Fiorela Elizabeth Valencia Gallegos, Alejandro Marcelo Mejía Medina, Víctor Hugo Villamarin Gutiérrez, Milton Adalberto González Naveda
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