Abstract:

In recent years, attendance at face-to-face lectures in higher education has become increasingly limited, particularly in theoretical courses where attendance is not compulsory and learning materials are often available online. The teachers of the course Physiology and Pathophysiology III in the Pharmacy Degree at the Universitat de Barcelona designed a survey to assess students’ perceptions of face-to-face teaching and to explore the motivations behind attending or not attending these sessions.

An anonymous survey was distributed to undergraduate students enrolled in this course during the 2025–2026 academic year (more than 350 students). Students rated, on a four-point Likert scale (0 = not at all, 1 = a bit, 2= quite, 3 = a lot), how positively they valued the quality and usefulness of face-to-face theory classes. Overall, most respondents evaluated these lectures positively, with 91.4% selecting “quite” or “a lot.” Students were also asked about their level of attendance at theory classes: 33.0% reported attending “quite” and 40.9% “a lot”. In addition, class attendance was monitored through in-class sign-in sheets. These records were consistent with the survey responses, showing that 42.9% of students attended at least 80% of the lectures.

Among students who frequently attended lectures, the main motivation was that attending face-to-face sessions helped them better understand and remember course content (41.4%). Many students also reported that they only missed classes when assessment deadlines were approaching (29.9% of the stated reasons). Interaction with peers (16.8%) and with instructors to resolve doubts (11.9%) were less frequently mentioned motivations for attending.

For students with low attendance, the main barriers were work commitments (50.0%) and timetable conflicts with other courses (30.8%). Only a small proportion of respondents indicated that lectures were unnecessary or did not add value to their learning (9.0%).

Overall, the results suggest that students enrolled to Physiology and Pathophysiology III generally value face-to-face lectures and recognize their contribution to learning. Low attendance appears to be driven primarily by students’ work and other academic commitments rather than by dissatisfaction with teaching. However, despite this positive perception, actual attendance remains moderate, with less than half of the students attending at least 80% of the sessions. This discrepancy suggests that, although students appreciate these classes, they do not always consider them essential for their learning. Therefore, it is important to raise students’ awareness of how missing classes can directly affect their understanding of the subject.

Keywords:

Higher education, absenteeism, theory classes.