Contribution to the study of the cognitive impact of higher education on students: A study held at the University of Coimbra

Abstract

The scientific interest on the impact of Higher Education on the students has had a growing development not only by its availability to the target group, but also by the importance given to that context in the development of the youngster/adult. This horizontal study about the impact of the attendance of Higher Education on the post formal reasoning in students of the University of Coimbra (beginners and last year students) enhances a positive impact on the building (construct) of the intellectual and ethical development defined by Perry (1970), that is evident in the overcoming of dualism and a better performance as far as relativism is concerned. Genre assumes itself as a variable that establishes the difference the cognitive performances of the students, favouring female students and the results are also different in the different institutions analysed. 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v24i2.311