Specific actions for desertion reduction, competence identification and guidance for new students of an engineering program, a case study

Desertion is considered as a measure of academic performance of the students and the educational system in general. The focus on desertion treats it as a product of a multifactor interrelation among educational system and society´s socio-economic structure, and as a manifestation of the profound changes that have overcame in the university institution, the students´ composition, the labor market and the policy shifts in each government period through the National Education Ministry. After an evaluation of the approaches and theoretical perspectives that explain the academic performance, the aim is to integrate and articulate the particular and contextual factors that influence the desertion processes that could be altered, alongside a methodological diversity that implies a pluralism in the ways used to approach the techniques for teaching and learning in students that start their formation process in engineering programs.