The role of public commitment in an academic context.

Roland, Nathalie [UCL] Frenay, Mariane [UCL]

The transition from secondary school to post-secondary education is a key moment in students’ educational trajectories, as it requires them to make important study and career choices. In Belgium, while the access rate to higher education is about 56% for secondary education students. rate of failure of first year undergraduates is also quite high: 58.9% of the freshmen fail. Students who fail can start again their first year in the same study program or change their study choice. Even if changing from one study program to another is very easy, 77% of the students who fail, do persist in their first study choice (ETNIC, 2008). Therefore, we would like to understand why students keep engaged to studies they have failed and/or which may not suit them. One explanation could be found in public commitment. Indeed, making a public commitment towards a behaviour or a goal reinforces the person’s commitment to this behaviour or goal (e.g. Debar & al., 2011; Nyer & Dellande, 2010). As a result, disengagement may become difficult. Our research aims to investigate whether student’s public commitment in their studies impact the way students engage or disengage. It will be tested among students with a traditional academic trajectory but also among students who fail and either, start again with the same choice of study program or either choose another one. As the research is on its preliminary stage, we will specifically focus in this paper on theoretical framework and browse the intended research design.