Universal Journal of Educational Research 8(12B): 8233-8239, 2020 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.082627 Causes of Early Termination of University Studies in Relation to the Existence of Bridging Courses from the Perspective of Students and their Teachers Renata Holubova * , Jana Slezáková Department of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, 17.listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic Received October 21, 2020; Revised November 27, 2020; Accepted December 20, 2020 Cite This Paper in the following Citation Styles (a): [1] Renata Holubova, Jana Slezáková , "Causes of Early Termination of University Studies in Relation to the Existence of Bridging Courses from the Perspective of Students and their Teachers," Universal Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 8, No. 12B, pp. 8233-8239, 2020. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.082627. (b): Renata Holubova, Jana Slezáková (2020). Causes of Early Termination of University Studies in Relation to the Existence of Bridging Courses from the Perspective of Students and their Teachers. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(12B), 8233-8239. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.082627. Copyright©2020 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract The paper deals with the issue of early termination of university studies and summarizes the results of an international survey on the existence of bridging courses for high school graduates entering the 1st year of science studies. The introduction describes the current situation at universities and technical colleges, and points out a number of factors that cause early termination. Based on the analysis of student failures in the first year of undergraduate study of teacher training in science and mathematics, a research survey was conducted in the Czech Republic in cooperation with universities in Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania and Italy. The aim of the research was to describe and analyze the current state of the so-called bridging courses for students of natural sciences and to verify other possibilities of implementing these courses at participating universities. Within the survey, the method of qualitative research was used, and an induction procedure with the following phases was used: formulation of the research question, data collection, data evaluation and formulation of conclusions. In the end, the results of research at individual universities, including their analysis, are presented. At the same time, recommendations are given for the creation of further courses, namely in physics, chemistry and biology, which will be prepared within the international project ERASMUS + Bridge2Teach. Keywords Study Failure, Bridging Course, Undergraduate Science Teachers 1. Introduction Approximately 80% of high school graduates apply to universities. Approximately 65% of these applicants are accepted [1]. Some of the universities (science faculties or technical universities) accept applicants without entrance exams. On the other hand there are specialisations with fields of study that register often several times more applicants than can be accepted. In recent years, universities, especially those with a technical focus, have faced the problem that students leave the university during their first year of study. University academics all over the world have been looking for reasons for dropping out of school and leaving university [2]. It is obvious that there are a wide number of reasons for dropping out of school and it is not just the insufficient professional readiness of high school students. Universities are trying to solve the situation in two main directions: 1. By expanding the offer of study fields (strengthening the motivation to study), 2. By including additional subjects into the study programs to help students bridge the gap between knowledge acquired in high schools and the requirements placed especially at the beginning of university studies during the first semester [3].