A survey of undergraduate students at Brazilian federal universities: Personal background, socioeconomic characteristics and perception of selected academic experiences

The purpose of this study was to describe a sample of undergraduate students at Brazilian federal universities, in terms of certain personal and socioeconomic background characteristics, and the students' perceptions of selected academic experiences. The study also identified some of the students' instructional and developmental needs that could be addressed through adequate programs at the university. A random sample of 3,636 undergraduate students enrolled at ten Brazilian federal universities in five different regions of the country completed the Brazilian College Student Questionnaire. The data were processed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). It was found that except for a few characteristics common to all undergraduates, students of federal universities were quite diverse in terms of personal background and socioeconomic characteristics. These differences showed a response pattern associated with the geographical location of their university. Differences were also found regarding the students' academic experiences related to processes of instruction, academic performance and campus resources. But unlike the results on personal background and socioeconomic characteristics, these differences did not show a strong regional response pattern. Analysis of data of the national sample as a whole, yielded the following findings: there was found to be a slight majority of female students; the predominant age group was between 18 and 23 years for both sexes, and the vast majority of those students were single and had no children. Most of those students had attended a private high school, passed the university entrance examination the first time, and expressed interest in pursuing a graduate degree. Almost half of the students' parents did not have formal education beyond elementary school, over half of the students reported having three or more siblings, and coming from families whose total income was up to US$850.00 monthly. Students reported only a moderate degree of satisfaction with their teachers, and they were critical of most campus resources. Finally, study implications and recommendations for future research were specified.