ENADE: The National Assessment of University Student Experience

• In Event: The Student Experience in Brazil and the U.S. at Fifty

Abstract

Kuh et. al (2005) and Bean (1980) found that differences between the students’ expectations and those of the institution negatively affect academic performance. Gomes and Soares (2013) found that students who had higher expectations for curricular and vocational involvement had higher academic performance. First-generation students are especially vulnerable to the effects of the college experience on their academic performance (Thayer, 2000; Hsiao, 1992).
Brazil is unique in that the majority of their recent college graduates are first-generation students. The higher education census in Brazil shows that approximately 200,000 students graduated from college in Brazil in 1990. Today there are over 6 million college students in Brazil and according to the data from the 2011 ENADE approximately 85% are first-generation students. The ENADE data includes a series of demographic, curricular, test scores and questions dealing with perceptions of the academic and collegiate experience for students graduating in specific academic disciplines.
This study examines the effect of perceptions on academic performance of first-generation education students using the data from the 2011 ENADE. Using factor analysis and multiple regression techniques, we explore if there are significant differences in scores due to the difference in student perceptions between first-generation students and non-first-generation students.

Author

• James E Cofer, Missouri State University