Factores explicativos de la deserción académica en la Educación Superior Técnico Profesional: el caso de un centro de formación técnica.

Higher Technical Professional Education currently represents one of the great challenges of Education in Chile, as it is considered a strategic and priority area for the development of the country. However, the growth in enrollment in the last decade has been accompanied by worrying dropout rates with the consequent impact on students, their families and the State resources. In this context, the case study of a Chilean technical training center is presented, whose objective was to analyze the explanatory factors of academic desertion in the field of technical training. Under a qualitative approach and through interviews and focus groups to managers, academics and students, the study findings identify personal, family, socioeconomic, academic, organizational and contextual factors, offering guidelines for the explanation of dropout, highlighting among them the individual factors, which suggest a student profile of this type of training. The conclusions highlight the complex and multidimensional nature of this phenomenon, whose understanding must allow, on the one hand, to advance in the generation of lines of action to reverse the high dropout rates, and on the other, to contribute to the debate and discussion of public policies and for change in those areas where the institution cannot intervene directly.