Students’ Factors Affecting Undergraduates’ Perceptions of their Teaching and Learning Process within ECTS Experience

INTRODUCTION In the present study, we investigated the potential factors that influenced the level of students satisfaction with the teaching-learning process (TLP), from the perspective of students participating in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) experience. METHOD A total of 1490 students from the Universities of Almería and Granada (Spain) participated in an evaluation of their class discipline area. They completed the new revised protocol for evaluating the ECTS experience. Analyses of variance were carried out, taking the following factors as independent variables: student's grade average, year in school, study discipline, credit load in terms of ECTS credits assigned to a subject, the e-learning approach. Perception of the TLP was used as the dependent variable. RESULTS The data analyses showed variability of the degree of statistically significance among the factors that influenced students' perceptions of the TLP. These factors included: Student's grade average (in favor of high performers), year in school (in favor of earlier years), ECTS load (in favor of subjects with a medium load of credits), and e-learning (in favor of its use). These research findings provided evidence to explore the delineation of a potential profile of factors that trigger a favorable perception of the TLP. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The present findings certainly have implications to deepen our understanding of the core beliefs, commitment, and the experience in shaping the implementation of the European Higher Education Area through the ECTS.