Abstract:

In Spain the net rate of university enrolment aged between 18 and 24 years was 27.9% in the 2011-2012 course (Ministry of education, culture and sport, 2012a), while the university graduation 2010 was 30% being between the countries with a lesser rate, under average of European Union countries, which stood at 40% (Poland: 55%, British Union: 51%, Denmark: 50%, between others). In Andalusia, including Ceuta and Melilla, that graduation rate grew to 39,5% in the course 2008/2009.

University system has being affected, above all in the first years of the degree for two important questions such as leaving studies and the low academic results. According to Rue the early leaving rate at the university was, in 2004, around 20%. Taking into account that this rate is used as one of the main efficiency indicators, this rate is one of the main problems in Spanish universities. Besides it is necessary to remember that 602% of the leaving happened during the first course of the degree.

Additionally, academic performance, understood as the verified knowledge grade of a subject or as the consecution grade expected according to educative objectives and goals, it is reaching worrying proportions, treating academic performance as a basic element to valuate quality in high teaching.

One of the objectives of tutoring actions is to help to diminish academics failure and leaving indexes at university. Because of that, Knowing the reasons that may be responsible in lower success rates, in Spanish University system, is very important, in comparison to other countries of our environment, and show an orientation and tutoring of learning in university studies, make them adequate to the necessities of our students, thinking in improving of the performance and reduction of academic failure.

Several factors exist that may cause a change in academic performance, that can transform high school education to university, which implies, educative institutions changes, unknowing how the new university institution works, the new partners, a different subjects organization, and so on, what may provoke academic failure. Others are identified with difficulty, such as those one with a personal character as gender and age; social factors like family environment and socioeconomic status; academic factors, for instance, earlier performance and degree election, and pedagogy factors related to educative methodology and evaluation systems; between others.

Nonetheless, this problem does not affect equally to all students. In degree studies in Spain during the course 2010/2011 students reached a higher performance in health science area in comparison to average in Spain, being performance rate of 77,1%, success rate of 87,7% and evaluation rate of 88,0%, this can be owing to several reasons, between them, a higher interest an motivation of students for that area; to require a higher punctuation to degree access, and therefore, a higher effort and a positive attitude towards studies.

Keywords:

Tutoring, University, academic performance.