Maria do Rosário Pinheiro

Transition and adaptation to higher education and the quest for success in Portuguese institutions

Despite the many important changes occurred in Portuguese higher education institutions since the last years of Estado Novo (New State) and the efforts to accomplish the demanding mission of preparing students for the challenges of the Europe of Knowledge, several indicators put the Portuguese higher education far from an educational system that is intended to be inclusive, differentiated and of high quality. The national research focused (1) on the understanding of academic success and of transition and adjustment to the higher education process and (2) on subsequent planning / implementation of actions to promote them has been a good contribution to the prosecution of previously mentioned pretensions. This review article will address these complex phenomena, emphasizing the latest research perspectives and results, as well as the answers that national postsecondary institutions have developed to promote academic success (which, in its broader meaning, includes a successful transition and adaptation process).

Assessement of family and friends perceived acceptance: contribution for the factorial validity of the Perceived Aceptance Scale (PAS)

A Escala de Percepcao da Aceitacao-PAS (Brock, Sarason, Sanghvi & Gurung, 1998; Versao portuguesa de Pinheiro & Ferreira, 2001) mede, nos relacionamentos com o pai, a mae, a familia e os amigos, a apreciacao pessoal de que os outros se preocupam connosco e nos valorizam independentemente das nossas atitudes e accoes pontuais. Procurando contribuir para o processo de validacao transcultural da PAS neste estudo, a partir de uma amostra de estudantes universitarios, sao apresentados e discutidos os resultados da Analise Factorial Confirmatoria com recurso a um estimador apropriado para lidar com dados ordinais (Muthen & Muthen, 2005). Conclui-se que os modelos propostos reproduzem adequadamente a estrutura de cada subescala e da escala no seu todo. Na analise do ajustamento local verifica-se que os valores de R2 que cada factor extrai por item se situam entre .11 e .80, requerendo uma interpretacao cuidada da qualidade semântica de alguns deles. Sao sugeridas as respectivas alteracoes.