UNIB monitors student achievement through multiple measures that are aligned with its mission and with the profile of the students it serves.
The institution’s mission emphasizes online graduate education, particularly master’s programs designed for working adults and non-traditional students who require flexible, distance-learning formats. In line with this mission, the university tracks retention, dropout (attrition) and graduation in its online master’s and doctoral programs and publishes summary results on this page.
Key Indicators and Institutional Goals
To document student achievement, the university uses several quantitative indicators drawn from its internal academic records (institutional indicators report “Indicadores UNIB”):
- Annual retention rate in master’s programs
- Annual institutional dropout (attrition) rate
- On-time graduation rate (three-year completion) in master’s programs
The institution has established thresholds of acceptability and targets for these indicators:
- Master’s retention – Total Master’s Degrees
- Threshold of acceptability: annual retention ≥ 70 %
- Institutional target: annual retention ≥ 80 %
- Institutional dropout (attrition) – Institutional Total
- Threshold of acceptability: dropout rate ≤ 25 %
- Institutional target: dropout rate ≤ 20 %
- Three-year graduation – Total Master’s Degrees
- Threshold of acceptability: three-year graduation rate ≥ 30 %
- Institutional target: three-year graduation rate ≥ 40 %
Current performance is consistently at or above these thresholds and targets, especially for three-year graduation.
Retention in Master’s Programs
The annual retention rate measures the percentage of master’s students who re-enroll in the following academic year.
For Total Master’s Degrees, recent results are:
- 2022: 70.4 %
- 2023: 78.6 %
- 2024: 79.7 %
These figures show a steady improvement over the last three years and place the institution very close to its target of 80 % retention in online master’s programs.
Institutional Dropout (Attrition)
The institutional dropout rate reflects the percentage of students who discontinue their studies during the academic year.
For the Institutional Total, the most recent values are:
- 2022: 28.99%
- 2023: 21.31 %
- 2024: 20.54 %
These results indicate a substantial reduction in dropout from 2022 to 2023 and a very low interim value for 2024. The university’s goal is to maintain the institutional dropout rate below 20 %, and recent data show performance well within this target.
On-Time Graduation in Master’s Programs (Three-Year Completion)
Master’s programs are designed with a nominal duration of approximately 24 months. For online graduate students, the institution considers completion within three years as “on-time graduation”.
For the 2021 entering cohort of master’s students (Total Master’s Degrees), the three-year results are:
- Three-year graduation rate (2021 cohort): 77.1 %
At the program level, three-year graduation rates for this cohort range approximately from:
- Lowest program rate: about 50 %
- Highest program rate: almost 100 %
Overall, the three-year graduation rate for master’s programs is well above the institutional threshold of 30 % and the target of 40 %, reflecting strong persistence and completion among online graduate students.
Graduation by Program Length
The university also analyzes graduation outcomes by program length, distinguishing between:
- Two-year master’s programs
- Three-year master’s programs
Graduation results by length are used to compare performance across different curricular structures and to guide decisions about curriculum design, pacing, and student support. Programs with longer planned durations or more demanding structures receive particular attention in order to maintain high completion rates aligned with institutional expectations.
(Disaggregated program-by-program results are available internally in the institutional indicators report.)
Use of Student Achievement Data
Student achievement results are reviewed annually by academic leadership and program coordinators as part of the institution’s continuous improvement processes. When indicators fall below the established thresholds or do not progress toward institutional targets, the university develops and implements improvement plans, which may include:
- Adjustments in curriculum design and course sequencing
- Enhanced academic advising and mentoring
- Orientation and support initiatives tailored to online students
- Early-alert systems and targeted interventions for at-risk students
Through the ongoing monitoring and publication of these indicators, UNIB demonstrates its commitment to transparency, accountability, and the continuous improvement of student achievement in its online graduate programs.