A comparative study on the transition from Secondary to University between Brazil and Spain

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the transition from Secondary to University in students of careers in Education, between a Brazilian university and another Spanish university. We have used an ad hoc instrument with 34 items that constituted four factors, F1: Academic adaptation, F2: adaptation to the new life, F3: Adaptation to Information, Schedules and Resources and F4: Self-esteem and Autonomy. The results show that the students of both universities have the same ability to adapt to academic life, but show significant differences in terms of adaptation to the new life and other factors. Brazilian students seem to adapt better to new life, information and schedules, but they have less autonomy and self-esteem than Spanish students.