Resumen de Impact of the economic crisis and the implementation of the EHEA on the bachelor’s degree in building in Spain
Amparo Verdú Vázquez, Cristina Torrecillas, Óscar López Zaldívar, Tomás Gil López
After five years since the introduction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in Spain, it is time to examine itsachievements. This study focuses on technical architectural studies and its transformation into a Bachelor’s degree in Building. Theanalysis takes into account key issues such as the reduction in the number of new students due to the crisis in the Spanishconstruction sector that started in 2008. This paper presents a study of the impact of the Bologna Process on the abovementionedbachelor’s degree programme from the point of view of the first-year subject of Descriptive Geometry. The methodology is basedon time series analysis and correlation parameters of data collected between 2005 and 2014. The results, on one hand, show highcorrelations (0.94–0.98) between the decrease in the number of students enrolled and some construction sector economic variables,such as construction employment. However, according to surveys, the vocations are still the main reason of career choice. On theother hand, they also show that the four-month period division of the subject established in the new bachelor programme hasimproved students’ academic performance. This is clearly shown in the range of students with marks over 7 out of 10. Inconclusion, the Bologna Process has led to an improvement in the academic performance of first-year students and thedevelopment of highly motivated and engaged learners in the new Bachelor’s degree in Building programme. In contrast, it isshown that the implementation of the EHEA will not reduce the number of years spent by students in their studies nor decreasethe rate of students who drop out.
