Academic experience at the beginning and the end of university studies

Abstract

The propose of this article is to compare academic and personal perceptions of university students starting and concluding the graduation. We have taken as sample the academic experience of a number of students (n=403) attending the 1st and 4th years at the University of Évora (south of Portugal). The results obtained show only a small variance in what concerns personal ways of academic adaptation according to the year of attendance. We may therefore conclude that the students attending the 1st year had already gone beyond the initial adapting crisis by the time the assessment was done (six months after classes had started). The 4th year students, since they were getting ready to leave the university, seemed to be less assertive and more vulnerable to questioning their own competencies and integrity. In regard to apprenticeship and efficiency, the girls seem to be more committed to the school tasks. On the other hand, as far as extracurriculum activities are concerned, gender is worth noticing and boys have proved to be more committed. Last but not least, girls seem to be more dependent from the family what may suggest either a stronger need to be close to the family or a bigger need in terms of economical support. The variance in the academic experience is more related with gender than with year of attendance.