Development of a Questionnaire to Evaluate Pilot Schemes Adapting Undergraduate Courses to the Requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)

Abstract

Convergence towards the European Higher Education Area involves a profound change within the university sector. The emphasis in the teaching-learning process shifts away from the teacher and onto the student. In order to deal with the major changes in the reform, the Faculty of Psychology of the University of the Basque Country, like other faculties throughout Europe, introduced a pilot scheme involving the adaptation of several undergraduate courses to the ECTS (the European Credit Transfer System). Based on data collected from a sample of 218 students – 143 belonging to the experimental group which received teaching based on ECTS credits and 75 belonging to the control group taught in accordance with the current system – the aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire that assesses whether, from the students’ viewpoint, the courses adapted in this pilot scheme met the pedagogical requirements proposed by the new system. The results show that the instrument has a four-dimensional structure with adequate internal consistency and good validity indices.