Impact of absenteeism on academic performance under compulsory attendance policies in first to fifth year university students

• Published in: Revista complutense de educación 2021-01, Vol.32 (4), p.627-637
• Main Authors: Méndez Suárez, Mariano, Crespo Tejero, Natividad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: absenteeism; academic year; compulsory attendance; student behaviour
• ISSN: 1130-2496; 1988-2793
• DOI: 10.5209/rced.70917

Since the implementation of the European Higher Education Area, universities have been obliged to implement continuous assessment systems that require a high degree of attendance by students. Using recorded data, from year 1 to year 5, of 694 students of a European university, where attendance is mandatory, the main objective of this research is to analyse to what extent absenteeism affects performance across the years of degree study. The investigation found a decreasing effect.  In addition, a cluster analysis was done to find out if the compulsory attendance policy impacts all students equally. Three different behavioural styles were found: those who attend regularly, students who manage their number of absences to comply with attendance rules, who are the real targets the policy, and a third group with a high number of absences not affected by the policy. These findings identify the groups of students who benefit most from adequate attendance.