Absenteeism and dropout of students in the university career

In Panama, the constant absenteeism in classes and the total abandonment of the career on the part of the university student in the night schedule at the level of private universities, is a social phenomenon that is on the rise and has pulverized the dreams of graduation of thousands of students. This binomial absenteeism-dropout is manifested by being voluntary and involuntary, it has grown exponentially during the year 2022 due to the call for on-site classes and it has not yet been possible to stop the growth of this scourge that affects students and private universities in Panama. The methodology used is descriptive, non-experimental field design with a qualitative approach, using the interview technique in a population of 1008 students. The results showed a total of 25 categories associated with absenteeism and dropout, of which 04 categories prevail in absenteeism, these are: Habit to virtuality (30%), they do not manage to arrive on time from 5 to 6 pm (12%), they acquired night schedules (10%), exhaustion in daytime work (10%). It is concluded that absenteeism in the physical classroom its reason is non-economic and the cause of abandonment is economic.