Platform has data on higher education courses – 07/14/2023 – Education

Researchers from Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo) launched this Friday (14) the Sou_Estudante platform that presents data on the quality and dropout percentage of undergraduate courses offered in more than 2,500 higher education institutions in the country.

The tool was developed by the Center for Society, University and Science Studies, linked to the university. The purpose of the platform is to gather reliable and useful information so that students can choose the institution where they want to study.

“The idea is for pre-university students to be able to make the best choice within the range of options, avoiding low-quality courses that usually lead to dropping out”, says Soraya Smaili, a professor at Unifesp and coordinator of the study center.

The platform is different from those that already exist in that it not only displays the Enade (National Student Performance Examination) score, but also the percentage of students who drop out of courses before completing them.

According to Smaili, the researchers observed that dropout rates are very high in some courses, mainly in private educational institutions. “This can be a huge emotional and financial burden for the student and their family.”

The tool allows consultation by type of course —in face-to-face and distance learning modes—, by educational institution, municipality or state. Among the information gathered are the Enade scores obtained by the institutions in the three most recent editions, the retention/dropout rate and the level of training of teachers.

All information used on the platform is from the Ministry of Education databases and came from the Census of Higher Education or Enade itself.