The quality of higher education and the restructuring of the tutoring program

Abstract

In order for higher education to be a part of the knowledge society we need to rethink how to teach so we can generate in the students self-directed learning, lifelong education, and comprehensive training. The high rates of failure and dropout, lag and low levels of terminal efficiency are challenges that Higher Education Institutions (IES) have to face. To try to reduce the previous situation, several strategies are implemented, one of which is to orient the student academically, considering that the students have their own capabilities and potentialities. Therefore, each student requires personalized attention, which provides him with the necessary fundamentals to make better decisions regarding his professional training. The tutorial activity has a special relevance, since it complements the teaching work. The objective of the work was to improve the quality of the educational process through personalized attention to the problems involved in the students' academic performance, in order to reduce the percentages of failure and desertion. Considering the above, there is a need to modify the tutoring program to the new needs of students, as well as a renewal of tutorial strategies. The methodology used was to make a diagnosis of the problems presented by the students during a year, based on the collected data, we proceeded to the analysis of these, finding the following: problems of academic type in various areas of knowledge, with emphasis in the area of mathematics, problems regarding habits of study, reading comprehension, administration of ttime, among others. Therefore it was necessary to modify the academic tutoring program, with the inclusion of strategies thought to meet the needs detected in the students, and ot modify the tutorial activity to follow up and evaluate the actions of the tutors.