Abstract:

In the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Bachelor´s Degree Final Project (DFP) must be carried out at the end of the degree. The DFP involves the preparation and presentation of an original work by students under the guidance of a tutor. The aim is to integrate and implement in the DFP some of the knowledge acquired by the student during his/her studies, according to the skills that must be acquired during programmed study plan (Royal Decree 1393/2007, of October 29th, which regulates the structure of official university degrees in Spain). Unfortunately, many students do not have the skills necessary to start the development of a DFP and, in addition, most of the degree studies do not facilitate an adequate preparation to assure the satisfactory involvement of the student in this subject. In view of that, we proposed the development of the mentorship program (Plan de Acción Tutorial, PAT) “Get prepared for the Bachelor´s Degree Final Project”.

The PAT was designed to provide a satisfactory qualification, assuring the acquisition of the skills needed, for the successful development of a DFP. Students included in the PAT were the ones in the last courses of the Degree in Pharmacy, Degree in Food Science and Technology, and Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, of the University of Granada (at the School of Pharmacy). The PAT included various workshops and activities, e.g. learn how to do a scientific research, and learning how to do the bibliography search needed to start a theoretic and/or experimental DFP. Additional sessions were devoted to the basic aspects of coaching, to motivate students working on a DFP, and finally, a seminar was focused on the preparation of the students for a satisfactory oral presentation and defense of a DFP.

Given that evaluation is one of the key steps to improve its quality/effectiveness, the impact and efficacy of the PAT was evaluated after one year of implantation. Concretely, it was analyzed the opinion of the Headmaster of the School of Pharmacy (where the PAT was developed), and of the students that participated in this action. Internal evaluation of each of the programmed activities was also the objective, and it was measured and analyzed through validated surveys based on rating scales from 1 to 5. Results were highly positive. Firstly, the PAT obtained the support of the Headmaster of the Faculty, this meaning the inclusion of the activities of the PAT into the specific formation of all the aforementioned Degrees; and secondly, the PAT received an excellent assessment by the students. A proof of concept was the very positive results obtained in the global evaluation of the PAT and of each of the programmed workshop. For instance, the degree of general satisfaction was positive or very positive in 97% of the cases. In addition, 94% of the students considered that the activities satisfied their needs in the context of a DFP, and the 100% of the participants indicated that they will recommend the participation in the DFP to other students.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the implantation of the PAT was very satisfactory, facilitating the necessary information/skills to assure a self-sufficient work of the students in the DFP.

Keywords:

Degree Final Projet, Tutorial Action Plain.