Abstract:Data from over 21,600 students who had left Catalan higher education institutions during the academic years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 has been analysed in order to describe the academic and personal profiles of university dropouts. Additionally, a telephone survey and face-to-face interviews with a pilot group of leavers were undertaken to gather additional qualitative information on the reasons for their decision. The influences on non-completion can be reduced to three main factors, among which dissatisfaction with the quality of the students' experience, family and work responsibilities, as well as economic difficulties, are prominent.Analysis conducted showed no significant differences among Catalan higher education institutions, the dropout percentages ranging from 28% to 33%. These rates should be understood within a context of broad access to higher education. Within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) scenario, the findings have triggered institutional endeavours to improve the quality of the students' and teachers' experience.

questionnaire has been prepared and the opinions of 1,162 undergraduates have been analyzed. The reasons given by each population differ in hierarchy and motivations.

Degree transfer is understood as the increasingly common phenomenon among students of changing university degrees or university, especially after the first or second years of the degree. The profile of students who transfer (3,861students, 8.3% of students) is constructed based on microdata from the University Pre-enrolment Register of Catalonia and an explanatory model is validated by means of Multivariate Logistic Regression.Transfer refers to both changing the area of knowledge or the university and occurs most frequently in engineering, experimental sciences and social sciences degrees. The profile of the student who transfers is male, does not balance paid employment with studying, has completed baccalaureate in a private or a statefunded private school, and is upper middle class with both parents with a higher-level education working in higher management positions or liberal occupations. His level of use of social networks and digital communication tools is very high.

<p>Existen interesantes y numerosos estudios que ahondan sobre la influencia de un conjunto de factores (personales, sociales, institucionales, etc.) como facilitadores e inhibidores de una adecuada transición académica desde la perspectiva del alumnado. El presente trabajo describe el proceso de ajuste académico a la universidad desde la perspectiva del profesorado del primer año. Conocer las opiniones de quienes han sido el referente de entrada de estudiantes de nuevo acceso en asignaturas obligatorias del primer año puede contribuir a arrojar luz sobre la necesidad de establecer un perfil –o perfiles– de profesorado en función, no sólo, de las características de la disciplina a impartir sino, también, del perfil del alumno y de las características de los grupos clase.<br />Para ello, se ha administrado una encuesta “on-line” a todo el profesorado de primer curso de los grados de Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE) y de Pedagogía de la Universidad de Barcelona al finalizar el curso 2010-11 obteniendo una tasa de respuesta del 45%. Mediante diversas técnicas estadísticas se ha analizado las relaciones entre las diferentes variables estudiadas considerando como referencia de análisis el grupo clase.<br />De los resultados se desprende que los factores relativos al contexto docente son los que mayor incidencia presentan en la satisfacción del profesorado del primer año frente a la influencia negativa que ejerce la preparación académica previa de los alumnos. A partir de una reducción dimensional del conjunto de variables sociodemográficas y de contexto de la muestra del profesorado, se han obtenido cuatro factores: coordinación y funcionamiento de la docencia, condiciones de la docencia, experiencia docente y el género del docente.<br />A modo de conclusión, los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la motivación e implicación docente del profesorado del primer año tiende a decrecer a lo largo del curso académico. Este artículo pretende resaltar este punto y sugerir algunos campos de mejorar para los docentes de primer curso y aquellos que tienen responsabilidades de coordinación.</p><p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><strong>Faculty satisfaction and motivation with first year teaching at social sciences degrees.</strong></p><p>Could be easy to find interesting studies about the influence of some factors (personal, social, institutional, etc.) as facilitators or inhibitors of adequate academic transition from student’s perspective. This paper describes the process of academic adjustment to high education college from the perspective of first-year teachers. Underlies also the relationship between faculty motivation and satisfaction and students retention. Collect opinions of first-year teachers could result of particular interest. They can have an important influence on students, being a reference for them. Could be possible to identify some profile of first year teachers, not only in terms of the characteristics of the discipline to be taught, but also the student’s profile and the characteristics of the class groups.<br />A statistical survey has been done to all first-year teachers at grades of Administration and Management (ADE) and Education studies, at the University of Barcelona. This survey was done at the end of the 2010-11 academic year, obtaining a rate 45% response. Sample includes “online comments” from faculty members. Statistical techniques as descriptive analysis and regression analysis, based on a principal components analysis, let identify relationships between variables. The study also collected qualitative results of the opinions of higher education teachers to incorporate personal aspects.<br />Factors relating to teaching context are those that have a higher influence in faculty satisfaction. On the other hand, student previous academic preparation has a negative effect on it. Four factors were identified through a dimensional reduction of variables: teaching coordination and operation, teaching conditions, teaching experience and teacher gender. This paper would remark this point and suggest some improving needs for a first year teachers and those who have responsibilities on it.<br />Results show how teachers’ motivation and involvement decline slightly throughout the academic year.</p>

Science parks are institutions that support the creation and development of high technology-based companies. They are designed to provide value-added services together with high-quality space and facilities and to promote interaction amongst universities, R&D institutions, companies, and markets. Although Spain is among the countries that have been investing heavily in these institutions, there is lack of feedback from the tenant companies' perspective with respect to the value added that they receive from science parks. The objective of this study is to evaluate the services that the Barcelona Science Park offers to its tenants by gathering information from the companies currently located in the park and those that have graduated. By comparing the results obtained from the two groups of companies, incubated and graduated, we examine whether the opinions differ about their appreciation of the services that they benefited from during their stay in the Park than those currently remaining.

No abstract

Introducción. El presente estudio analiza el uso de las redes sociales por parte de los centros deportivos municipales (CEM) de Barcelona y como esto puede relacionarse con la práctica de ejercicio físico. Metodología. Se calculó el engagement de los centros deportivos municipales de Barcelona mediante el registro de las interacciones en sus redes sociales (Facebook y Twitter), para luego determinar la relación existente entre el engagement y la práctica de ejercicio físico en Barcelona. Resultados. Los datos muestran que existe una relación positiva entre el engagement y la práctica de actividad física. Además, se identifica que los likes de Facebook determinaron la mayor relación. Discusión y conclusiones. A pesar de que la recogida de datos fue muy acotada (82 días), se recomienda que los centros deportivos gestionen la comunicación mediante redes sociales y presten atención en como involucrar a los usuarios

Low levels of Physical Activity (PA) and sedentarism are associated with the onset of different pathologies and health problems. Regular physical activity has been linked with being beneficial to the health of the general population. Within this framework of analysis, the aim of the present study was to analyze the association between the time spent doing physical activity and the expressed motives for doing so, from which the innovative aspect of the paper emerges: the use of the time spent doing PA as a study variable of the phenomenon. The data analyzed come from the latest special Eurobarometer survey about the sport and physical activity done in Europe. Using an exploratory factorial analysis and a structural equations model, a six-dimensional factorial model was found that explains the reasons for doing PA, demonstrating that there is no relationship between the reasons for and time spent doing PA. The motivation is not a variable that explains the time spent doing PA, and another type of variable must be used to explain the phenomenon if PA is to be incentivized. Weaknesses of the study are that it works with individuals as a group and that the fundamental dependence on age is not introduced, which could determine interest in practicing PA. Similarly, the impact of the conditions of implementing PA, education, and family history should also be introduced into the model.