Decrease in academic performance following the Bologna Plan in comparison with the previous plan in Spain

Abstract

The incorporation of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) will pay off soon with the release of the first labor market new-plan graduates. In this study an initial assessment of the results is done by analyzing whether the curriculum (new-plan degree or old-plan degree) and the use of new teaching methodologies have led to significant differences in academic performance or if, on the contrary, they did not. These results suggest that this performance is higher for old-plan graduates, and also for those who have benefited from a new pedagogical tool (students from both the old and new plan). Data used corresponds to that from two different classes, one of them from an old-plan double degree and another from a new-plan double degree. Potentially important inputs such as pre-university level and secondary school option were discarded as causes affecting their performance and the implantation of new-plan degrees with virtually no investment is seen as the cause of the performance drop, which would have meant that students lacked the reduction of physical presence required for proper academic selfmanagement.