Browsing by Author "Baghdadi, Heyam Baker"

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Using Data-Mining Techniques to Discover Determinants to Post-Graduate Students’ Dropout: The case of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
(Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, 2020) Baghdadi, Heyam Baker; Düştegör, Dilek
One of the important challenges facing Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University is balancing between inputs and relevant output, specifically the right balance of enrolled and graduated students. As a matter of fact, around 30% of students who enrolled in postgraduate programs from 2012 to 2018 withdraw before finishing the degree. This number is even more dramatic when we focus on MS programs only, reaching 45%. Since postgraduate programs are paid by students, dropping-out charge students due to significant tuition rates. Clearly, from the university perspective too, an investment in terms of teaching effort and infrastructure is made without return. However, the related literature reveals some limitations: no research was previously conducted on drop-out at postgraduate level, we found no studies about drop-out in Saudi Arabia, and very few studies investigated the drop-out phenomenon at the institution level. The purpose of this thesis study is to descriptively analyse the effectiveness of applying machine learning techniques to discover the determinants of this phenomenon. For this, we develop several predictive models utilizing various educational data mining techniques. We also investigate the effect of the prediction window on the models' accuracy. This study revealed several red flags, namely being a female student, being a working student, having a significant gap between previous and current degree, and having a BS degree in a different field. The experiments also revealed that a prediction as early as 1) right before enrolment, 2) by the end of the firsts semester, and 3) by the end of the second semester will allow, with very satisfactory accuracy rate, for early intervention. A set of suggestions are also formulated to help both departments and the Deanship of Graduate Studies at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University to assist students at risk and minimize drop-out rates.
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