New baccalaureate student data helps understand university dropout rate and shortage of skilled workforce for Industry 4.0

The problem of university dropouts mainly in engineering schools came to light in the presentations at Educon 2022, and on the other hand we know that there is a lack of professionals for Industry 4.0. According to Barcelona Digital Talent, the Catalan industry needs 12,000 IT workers and the abandonment widens this labor gap. To determine the causes of this dropout, a survey has been made, initially intended for baccalaureate students, it has been extended to 1st year computer engineering students and to a master’s course at a business school. The working hypothesis on dropout has been defined for two reasons, one caused by the lack of knowledge resulting from the previous educational stages, and the other cause is the functioning of the educational system. Thus, the survey has brought to the surface teaching methodology problems not only within the university system but also in the previous stages, that deficiencies are not corrected in later educational stages, and all these factors contribute to school dropout, which explains the lack of knowledge of Industry 4.0 on the part of the workers.