Abstract
How common is it for engineering students to persevere to near the end of their training and then quit the program? Is it possible to leave the university without a degree and still work in an engineering-related position? The present research shows that a significant proportion of engineering technology majors may leave the university when they have three or fewer courses remaining for completion of their degree (i.e., "near-graduates"). Near-graduates lacked significantly more engineering-major courses than general education courses for degree completion. A significant proportion of this group gained employment in engineering-related positions but at a significantly lower proportion than graduates. Engineering technology students who graduated had significantly higher GPAs than near-graduates; however, GPA did not significantly correlate with holding an engineering-related job for either graduates or near-graduates. Our findings suggest that greater efforts should be made to guide and mentor near-graduates to degree completion . The findings are pertinent to college administrators and human resources personnel.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 30-38 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Engineering Technology |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 1 |
State | Published - Mar 1 2018 |