Academic failure in the first school year of the telecommunications school of the “Universidad Politecnica de Madrid”

The factors that may explain academic failure among the first-year students of the Telecommunications Engineering School of the “Universidad Politecnica de Madrid” have been investigated. The main source of data have been: (1) research carried out by the Unit of Research and Documentation (GED), (2) a survey conducted among first year students of the School, and (3) group discussions and in-depth interviews with students and professors. The academic failure appears to have three causes. The first consists in a two-fold gap between the secondary level and the university level: (a) a gap in the curricular continuum and (b) a gap in the environmental conditions. The second cause lies in the first-year curricular inadequacy for an engineering career. The third cause could be expressed as a fundamental lack of coordination in the teaching of the five subjects of the first year