Students at risk: Students' general study orientations and abandoning/prolonging the course of studies

The purpose of the study was twofold. Firstly, we aimed at distinguishing groups of students with differing general orientations to university studies. Secondly, our goal was to establish a connection between orientations and students' intentions to discontinue their studies as well as their actual absences. The participants of the study were all the first year students of a multi-disciplinary Finnish university. A questionnaire was used including the Inventory of General Study Orientations (IGSO) and questions about students' motives for entrance and intentions to discontinue their studies. Archive data from the university's student register were also utilised to examine study orientations' connections with actual absences and study success.Students were divided into three study orientation groups: study-oriented students, work-life oriented students, and non-committed students. Students' intentions to discontinue their studies were related according to their study orientation. It was found that students who intended to change their major subject or to abandon their studies altogether belonged most often to the group of non-committed students. The same was true concerning students' actual absences during the first two years of studying. Regarding the study success as measured by study credits and grades, work-life oriented students obtained the best result.