Abstract:

As part of the Bologna Process to establish the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), Spanish universities were mandated to implement a new educational approach starting from the 2008/2009 academic year, with the flexibility to defer these changes for up to two academic years. This new approach, grounded in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), emphasizes interactive teaching methods and continuous assessment over traditional lecture-based instruction. The Faculty of Economics and Business at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid chose to pioneer this transition by implementing pilot groups adhering to the ECTS methodology during the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 academic years, just before the new degrees (grados) were introduced in 2009/2010. This study aims to assess the impact of the ECTS methodology on student academic achievement. Leveraging administrative student records for the 2007/2008 cohorts enrolled in the Economics and Business programs, panel data methods are employed to address the potential endogeneity associated with group selection. Findings indicate that participation in ECTS groups positively correlates with academic achievement. Students engaged in these groups demonstrate higher GPAs, earn a greater share of credits with remarkable grades, and have lower rates of exam failure. They also use fewer average exam sessions and participate less in extraordinary exams. Additionally, we find that lower ability, Business students and, more generally, students assessed in subjects with less formal content benefit significantly more from the new teaching and evaluation approach.

Keywords:

Higher Education, University, Bologna Process, Panel Data, Academic Performance.