Mining Data, an innovation of quantitatives research methods, in the measurement of university academic performance

Abstract

In this essay on university quality and its measurement, a theoretical revision is made on the factors that affect the academic performance. In the theoretical review, it was found that there is consensus that major desertions occur in the first year of university and that these causes are also linked to the student’s pre-university history. Regular attendance and career motivation are also important aspects that stand out in order to improve academic performance. The gender factor: male or female, is an aspect that should be considered in any study of academic performance. It is argued that the academic databases that are in the university centers, are an important material in any academic research, and that can be studied by data mining. Process that allows to extract new knowledge, data that arise from the accumulation of academic information in the time.

Keywords: process innovation, academic performance, university quality, data mining.