Rethinking the admission processes to higher education in Engineering: the case of a university in Chile

Marcela Cárdenas; Maria Elena Truyol

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 6: Admissions, Transfer Pathways, and Major Selection
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40696
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40696
Download Count: 271

Paper Authors

biography

Marcela Cárdenas Universidad Andres Bello

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Marcela Cárdenas, has a Master in Human Resources Management and Management Skills from the Universidad del Bio Bio, Chile, Bachelor of Business from the Universidad de las Américas, Chile, and Auditor Accountant from the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. She has more than 15 years of experience in the industry, in the areas of management, accounting planning, human resources and Administration. She is a teacher with 10 years of experience in universities in the areas of administration and human resources, giving classes to undergraduate, advanced, and postgraduate students. She is currently the Administrative Secretary of the School of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University.

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Maria Elena Truyol Universidad Andres Bello

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María Elena Truyol, Ph.D., is full professor and researcher of the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB). She graduated as physics teacher (for middle and high school), physics (M.Sc.) and Ph.D. in Physics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013 she obtained a three-year postdoctoral position at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her focus is set on educational research, physics education, problem-solving, design of instructional material and teacher training. She teaches undergraduate courses related to environmental management, energy and fundamentals of industrial processes at the School of Engineering, UNAB. She currently is coordinating the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit at the School of Engineering (UNAB) that is engaged with the continuing teacher training in active learning methodologies at the three campuses of the School of Engineering (Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepción, Chile). She authored several manuscripts in the science education area, joined several research projects, participated in international conferences with oral presentations and key note lectures and serves as referee for journals, funding institutions and associations.

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Abstract

Various international investigations have focused on higher education admission systems as these seek to identify the academic potential of new admissions. In many countries, standardized admission tests are used as they are considered good predictors of future academic performance by candidates. Further to this, as is the case in Chile, the Single Admission System (SUA, in spanish) employs and additional ranking that seeks to consider the long-term performance of students in terms of their study context. This is done using a candidate's average school grades and weighing this result with a ranking associated with their school. This weighing aims to reduce the importance that a single selection test may have and so provide opportunities to underrepresented groups in higher education. However, this system has been widely criticized for not fulfilling its central aim and worse still in that it increases discrimination against students who come from less favored sectors. In Engineering degrees in particular, the SUA calculates the scores by assigning different weights to the ranking, which may vary from 10% to 40% depending on the engineering career considered. This present study seeks to analyze the different sources of information that the SUA system uses to determine the correlation that these may have with academic performance in first year students. The data analyzed is for a population of 7,845 students entering engineering careers between 2013 and 2017, where a stratified random sample of 675 students from a private Chilean university was considered, having the highest enrollment at the national level in engineering careers. Using a correlational analysis, the aim is to detect variables that may play a relevant role in first-year academic success. The data considered includes age, gender, type of school, school ranking, scores attained in selection tests, and their course grades at the end of their first year at university. Preliminary results show that SUA indicators are not sound predictors of academic performance for this sample of first-year engineering students. Results obtained are discussed and suggestions presented on the use of available information to improve a university selection and admission system. Moreover, the uptake of these study results by higher education institutions is encouraged so as to develop actions that may accompany and buttress academic performance during the first year of university studies for students identified as being at risk.

Citation
Format

Cárdenas, M., & Truyol, M. E. (2022, August), Rethinking the admission processes to higher education in Engineering: the case of a university in Chile Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40696

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Various international investigations have focused on higher education admission systems as these seek to identify the academic potential of new admissions. In many countries, standardized admission tests are used as they are considered good predictors of future academic performance by candidates. Further to this, as is the case in Chile, the Single Admission System (SUA, in spanish) employs and additional ranking that seeks to consider the long-term performance of students in terms of their study context. This is done using a candidate's average school grades and weighing this result with a ranking associated with their school. This weighing aims to reduce the importance that a single selection test may have and so provide opportunities to underrepresented groups in higher education.  However, this system has been widely criticized for not fulfilling its central aim and worse still in that it increases discrimination against students who come from less favored sectors. In Engineering degrees in particular, the SUA calculates the scores by assigning different weights to the ranking, which may vary from 10% to 40% depending on the engineering career considered.
This present study seeks to analyze the different sources of information that the SUA system uses to determine the correlation that these may have with academic performance in first year students. The data analyzed is for a population of 7,845 students entering engineering careers between 2013 and 2017, where a stratified random sample of 675 students from a private Chilean university was considered, having the highest enrollment at the national level in engineering careers. Using a correlational analysis, the aim is to detect variables that may play a relevant role in first-year academic success. The data considered includes age, gender, type of school, school ranking, scores attained in selection tests, and their course grades at the end of their first year at university. Preliminary results show that SUA indicators are not sound predictors of academic performance for this sample of first-year engineering students. Results obtained are discussed and suggestions presented on the use of available information to improve a university selection and admission system. Moreover, the uptake of these study results by higher education institutions is encouraged so as to develop actions that may accompany and buttress academic performance during the first year of university studies for students identified as being at risk.

AU  - Marcela Cárdenas
AU  - Maria Elena Truyol
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Rethinking the admission processes to higher education in Engineering: the case of a university in Chile
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40696
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40696
ER  -