Abstract:

The importance of tutoring in the university has increased in recent decades. Nowadays, it is a consolidated practice with a long history, although higher education institutions develop tutoring programs with different perspectives and strategies. Moreover, various studies highlight the importance of giving special attention to first-year university students. In this regard, during their transition from secondary school to university, some of them experience periods of disorientation and face new challenges.

The main goal of this work is to develop a Tutoring Program specifically designed to reduce dropout rates of first-year university students. We propose to offer support assistance to novice students and to facilitate their adaptation during their first year at university. We consider it essential to guide and help them to adapt to new circumstances, thereby contributing to improving their learning process.

To achieve our goal, we propose a strategy based on academic tutor meetings and follow-up questionnaires to detect the student's weaknesses and boost their strengths. Our Tutoring Program involves three main actors:
1) the student, who will become aware of points to be improved and will try to redirect their performance accordingly.
2) the tutor, who will bring out the student's weaknesses, providing guidelines and actions for improvement.
3) and the institution, which will provide some tools, such as workshops and seminars, to support students in the aspects that they should improve, such as time management and study techniques.

To assess our Tutoring Program, we launched a small-scale pilot program with students of different degrees, including Medicine, Chemistry, Biotechnology, and Environmental Sciences. In our pilot program, we prepared questionnaires and assessed their effectiveness. We held tutor-student meetings three times throughout the school year. Our work has allowed us to identify some of the main challenges that first-year university students face.

We propose that our assessment should allow us to establish the groundwork of an institution-based Tutoring Program. The implementation of such a program should ensure early detection of the main issues that may affect first-year university students. Thus, we are currently seeking institutional support to put into practice our Tutoring Program across the university. Overall, we hope to reduce the dropout rates during the student’s first year and to promote their academic performance.

Keywords:

Education research, Tutoring, Student dropouts, Academic performance.