INTRODUCTION

1. BELIEFS ABOUT THE FACTORS OF PERMANENCY IN GRADUATION COURSES: A STUDY WITH brazilIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS Cláudia Basso1, Ana Isabel Mota2, Dulce Penna Soares1, Marucia Bardagi1& Maria do Céu Taveira2 1Federal University of Santa Catarina (BRAZIL) 2University of Minho (PORTUGAL)

2. INTRODUCTION • In the last decade there have been an increase number of students attending universities in Brazil (INEP, 2011). In fact, currently, there is about 1.03 billion of Brazilian youths attending training courses and undergraduate or postgraduate courses, of which 14.6% (6.739.989 million) are aged between 18 to 24 years old (INEP, 2011; IBGE, 2010). • This new reality is the consequence of a range of educational growth policies taken by Brazilian governments. • Previous research suggest that students often reach university for the first time with several unrealistic expectations and that many times university teachers also develop beliefs about their pupils which have a negative impact in student’s adaptation to academic (Almeida & Soares, 2003).

3. INTRODUCTION • The process of academic adaptation is a multidimensional one and it is characterized by the interaction of personal (e.g., physical and psychological conditions), relational (e.g., relations with peers, teachers and family), academic (e.g., learning, achievement, academic and school involvement) and other formal aspects related with the university culture and organization on campus (Almeida, Soares & Ferreira, 1999; Polydoro, Primi, Serpa, Zaroni & Pombal, 2001) • Parental participation on student´s academic life plays also an important role during the period of the graduation course. • The increasing demand of the labor market and competitiveness among increasingly skilled workers also plays an important role in the decision of permanence in the graduation course until it ends.

4. INTRODUCTION • During the university academic experience, students face a range of challenges that requires adaptation and decision-making skills. These challenges are difficult for some freshmen and interfere with their continuity in graduation courses. • This study aims to enlarge the comprehension about the factors that college students attending universities in Southern Brazil believe to be important for their permanency in graduation courses.

5. PARTICIPANTS • 127 students from universities of southern region of Brazil. • 36 females (29.6%) and 90 males (71.4%). • Aged 18 to 44 years old (µ=21.1±4.30). • Living in rural (61.9%) and urban (32.5%) areas. • Attending the eighth semester of Business Administration courses (27%), the fourth semester of Agro-Business Technologies courses (23.8%), the eighth semester of Agronomy (38.1%) and the second (7%), third (7%), fifth (71%) and eighth (14%) semesters of Environment Engineering graduation courses. METHOD

6. PARTICIPANTS • In public (49.2%) and private (50.8%) universities of southern region of Brazil. • Students (N=118) came to university from the following admission programs: Brazilian FUVEST application system to university (72%), transfer from other graduation courses (10%), Quota System for College (9%), University for All Program (6%), Higher Education Admission Program of Federal University of Santa Maria (3%), and Unified Selection System (0,8%). METHOD

7. METHOD MEASURES DemographicQuestionnaire √ Age, gender, university admission system, other concluded graduation courses, preference order of current graduation course, and birth and address localities. Permanency and Dropout Factors Inventory Participants were asked to think about which factors contributes to their permanency in university and to mark all the items that corresponded to their opinions. √ 20 items permanency factors √ 11 items dropout factors Participants answered the second part of the inventory, under the question “Which factor(s) lead or would trigger you to give up your graduation course before its end?”

8. RESULTS • A high frequency of students consider parental support, identification with the graduation course and the desire to achieve a university degree as permanency factors. • The frequency of student’s response distribution on the factors of graduation course dropout. The items with higher answer frequency are personal disease and lack of individual’s financial resources. Family disease, lack of identification with the graduation course and lack of motivation in relation to the professional future were also chosen by several college students as possible reasons for college dropout. • As was also notice in the reported results by college students, proximate relations with peers and teachers, and good infrastructures available at university, are also an important satisfaction factors perceived for college students.

9. RESULTS • Some college students marked the last question of each part of the inventory (other factors), reinforcing factors (e.g., “I have begun my graduation course with specific expectation that were frustrated during the graduation period. Many times I felt like I wanted to dropout, but the support of parents to continue made me continue. Now I will finish my graduation course no matter what, although I have not so good expectations about the future”, Female, 21 years old, Agronomy student), • Or indicating new aspects such as the congruence between the course and preferred occupational domain (e.g., “I am attending this graduation course because is in this area that I want continue my professional career”, Male, 19 years old, Agro-Business Technologie’s student), • Or the broad nature of the curriculum (“I am satisfied with the university and I believe that I choose the right course, since it covers a wide range of knowledge areas and it is related with my daily live and my family situation”, Female, 24 years old, Agronomy student). • With regard to perceived factors of graduation course dropout, college students did not added other factors.

10. CONCLUSIONS • College student´s ability to adapt to university context seems to be an important factor for permanency or dropout decision in graduation courses. • It may be important to prevent college dropout earlier, while students are still in middle school. • Students that reach university for the first time may need some help to understand roles and demands. • Develop and implement career interventions and guidance in this development period can help freshman students make more informed choices that will help them to better adapt.

11. REFERENCES Almeida, L., Soares, A. P., Ferreira, J.A. (1999). Adaptação, rendimento e desenvolvimento dos estudantes no Ensino Superior: Construção/ validação do Questionário de Vivências Académicas [Adaptation, achievement and development of College Students: Construction/ Validation of the Academic Experiences Questionnaire]. Braga: Centro de Estudos em Educação e Psicologia (CEEP). Available at: <http://repositorium.sdum.uminho. pt/handle/1822/12082>. INEP – Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira. Senso da Educação Superior 2011. Available at: http://portal.inep.gov.br/superior-censosuperior-sinopse IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Senso 2010. Disponível em: http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/ Polydoro, S., Primi, R., Serpa, M., Zaroni, M., & Pombal, K. (2001). Desenvolvimento de uma Escala de Integração no Ensino Superior [Development of a scale for student adaptation to academic enviroment assessment]. RevistaPsico-USF, 1 (6), 11-17. Available at: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S141382712001000100003 &script=sci_arttext

12. Cláudia Basso – claudiabassopsi@hotmail.com Dulce Penna Soares – dulcepenna@terra.com.br Marucia Bardagi - marucia.bardagi@gmail.com LIOP (Laboratory Information and Career Guidance) – www.liop.ufsc.br Maria do Céu Taveira - ceuta@psi.uminho.pt Ana Isabel Mota - id4278@alunos.uminho.pt Universidade do Minho - http://www.cipsi.uminho.pt/ Portuguese Association for the Development of Career http://www.apdc.eu/ CONTACT AUTHORS: