An application of absorbing Markov analysis to the student flow in an academic institution

This paper presents an application of Markov analysis of student flow in a higher educational institution. Historical data of a random sample of 250 students of the Faculty of Science at Kuwait University was investigated. Results indicated that: (i) a freshman student has about 0.401 probability of graduating, (ii) freshman, sophomore, junior students stay on average 3, 2.3, 2.2 semesters at their respective levels before they pass on to the next level of study, while senior students stay longer, an average of 3.7 semesters, (iii) a high percentage of 39% of incoming freshman students withdraw from their study, and (iv) the probability of progression to a higher level and graduating increases as students move on to a higher level in the system.