Abstract:

The implementation of the European Higher Education Area in the Spanish University made it possible to offer university students complementary and transversal training. The actions aimed at the acquisition of transversal skills by the students should be opened towards less academic methodologies or tools. These skills can be very effective in order to achieve the improvement of academic performance and the quality of life of the person at an integral level. Within these actions, they can be found those related to positive thinking and self-motivation actions, healthy lifestyle habits, as well as, sports, social and cultural activities.

The aim of this work was:
1) to value the attitude of university students to receive training about transversal skills with extracurricular activities;
2) to value whether the students consider that these activities could influence their academic performance (academic work and assessment) and their personal relationships, or not.

Three lines of work are considered: promotion of positive thinking and self-motivation, promotion of healthy lifestyle habits and promotion of socio-cultural actions. The sample comprised 384 university students (269 women and 115 men) of four degrees (Nursing, Podiatry, Forest Engineering and Business Administration and Management).

The students were surveyed to value:
1) their attitude to participate in the different activities promoted within each work line;
2) if they consider that these activities could influence their personal relationships and academic performance. Right after a presentation about the activity of each word line, the students were surveyed again to know if their opinion had changed.

Two out of three students of the four degrees showed an attitude to receive training on these transversal skills, and no significant differences were found between the three work lines. In addition, this attitude significantly increased in the three lines after the presentation. In general, women showed a greater disposition than men in all three lines.

Regarding how these activities can influence personal relationships, academic work, and assessments, more than two-thirds of the students believed that all lines could influence both. This percentage was significantly higher for the influence on academic work and assessment in the lines of promotion of positive thinking and healthy lifestyle habits. Furthermore, the percentages on the line of positive thinking were significantly higher than those of socio-cultural activities. The students in the Degree of Nursing value the influence of the three lines to a greater scale than the students of the rest of the degrees.

University students consider that the performance of extracurricular activities related to the promotion of positive thinking, self-motivation, healthy lifestyle habits and sociocultural actions could improve the relationship with their classmates, as well as, better cope with academic work and assessments.

Keywords:

Extracurricular activities, transversal training, skills, innovation, lifestyle habits, well-being, attitude.