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The massification and diversification of the student population who enters university has become a challenge for Higher Education institutions. A better consideration of this diversity could help to gain a greater understanding of students’ achievement process, and this requires observing situations where this diversity is substantial. Thus, in France University Institutes of Technology (IUT) constitute a promising context. This study aims at analyzing to what extent the diversity in student entrance backgrounds and student engagement could explain academic achievement. Analyzing the influence of these two types of variables on achievement allows to question the secondary education determinism on academic achievement. The impact of background diversity was estimated both at the individual level and at the contextual level (through class composition). To do so, multilevel analyses were performed among a sample of 748 first year students (average age 18.43 with standard deviation of 0.98) from 50 classes in 11 IUT departments. Student engagement was measured using the “Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students” (ASSIST) and the “Strategies for Learning Questionnaire” (MSLQ). The results show that engagement in learning and academic background are both important individual factors to understand differences of students’ achievement. Moreover, classroom composition explained a significant part of student achievement differences among the classes. Student achievement differences due to the academic background were important enough not to be fully compensated by student engagement. Implications of the findings for practices and further research on the first-year experience at University are discussed.

There is a vast body of studies regarding the variables related to students’ achievement. Yet, only a handful of them have investigated the way these variables combine and interact together. Such an investigation could allow for a precise depiction of the heterogeneity of students enrolling at university and the investigation of the impact of this diversity on academic achievement. The current study focuses on person-centered approach and investigated the possibility of determining significant subgroups of freshmen in the very first week of the academic year in Belgian educational context. Using k-mean clustering, 2,178 freshmen were classified according to their past performance, socioeconomic status, study choice process and academic self-efficacy beliefs at the beginning of the first year at university. Analyses of the variance were also conducted to analyze the relation between these clusters of student and academic achievement outcomes. Six distinct profiles of student were identified representing different combinations of achievement predictors. Results revealed differential odds of succeeding among these profiles. The implications of our approach in the understanding of the heterogeneity of freshmen and the first year achievement process are discussed.

This paper presents a prospective study aimed at identifying the predictors of academic achievement among first-year university students. It tries to develop an inclusive view of academic achievement by taking into account the possible differential impact of several predictors in two different faculties of the university. Some 317 university students from the two faculties (science and physical education), who were in their first year at university, participated in the study. During the academic year, these students completed a questionnaire. The outcome variable was their average academic mark at the end of the year. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify the most powerful predictors of achievement. The results showed that past school failure, parental education, and self-efficacy beliefs predicted achievement in both programs. Age, secondary-school specialisation, reasons for choosing the program, deep processing, time spent studying, and intention to persist have also been highlighted as significant predictors of success, but only in one of the two faculties. Self-efficacy was the most powerful predictor of achievement in physical education courses, whereas intention to persist the most powerful predictor in science. These results show the importance of adopting an integrated and contextualised approach to exploring the predictors of academic achievement at university.