Abstract:

The pre-grade studies of Food Science and Technology (FST) are still little known in Spain due to its recent introduction, fifteen academic years ago, and only offered as a 2nd cycle. With the implementation of the European Higher Education Area system (EHEA), such studies have become a grade of 4 courses, which starts after passing the baccalaureate (B) or high-level module (HLT) training. Therefore, there are few students who choose these studies as the first option in selectivity, but lastly the offer is completed with re-assignments which lead to a very heterogeneous group of students in classrooms.
At Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) we are strongly interested in knowing the rate of performance of the new degrees freshmen this type of information will guide high school students and help university teachers to improve subject contents and to increase the acquisition of skills.

We compared the results between students from high school and training modules with a slightly better performance for B in general, although not in all subjects. The average scores are also higher in B but it is very remarkable the segregation that occurs between students who chose FST as the first option (which we would call “vocational”) of those who did so in the following. In the first group the differences between B and HLT are blurred.
The abandonment is limited to students who entered college to study after choosing FST as the 3rd. option or lower.
The above data indicate the importance of students' interest in their studies to achieve the objectives.
Relationships between the core subjects studied in high school and scores obtained in FST are also evaluated. By means of comparison of contents and objectives of secondary level subjects and higher education ones will improve the achievement of learning objectives. Finally, it has to be used as well to re-evaluate the weight of the subjects in high school schedule for the selectivity specific phase.

Keywords:

Performances, freshmen, food science and technology.