From the 9th to the 11th of November, Escuela Politécnica Nacional held the 6th Latin American Conference on Higher Education dropout rates, which was attended by professors, students and higher education officials from Latin American countries and Spain. The aim of the conference was to discuss topics regarding the overall quality of education, but particularly drop outs.

UPS professors María Isabel Castro, Marco Zumárraga, María José Boada, Lía Peñaherrera, Yolanda González, Juan Carlos Romero, Johanna Luzuriaga and Paola Escobar from the psychology major attended the conference and presented the poster titled "Elaboración de cuestionarios de intereses profesionales y de personalidad para el programa de orientación profesional de la Unidad de Admisiones de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana".

The research they presented is the result of a project from the Vocational Education program in the Salesian Psychology Center.

The objectives of the project were: to develop psychological instruments of professional orientation which focuses on personality traits and professional interests; Improving the compatibility between the student´s profile and career selection; Contributing to the decrease of academic desertion and the improvement of efficiency to finish in the medium and long term. 

At the end of the event, the scientific committee awarded the poster presented by UPS professors an acknowledgment.