Profiles of academic goals in engineering students at private universities in Peru

Abstract

Motivation is a complex construct related to performance, persistence, effort and the development of strategies for academic achievement in undergraduate university students. The characteristics of the engineering student and the subjects that form the engineering curriculum make it necessary for educators to adapt and personalize their teaching strategies when they start teaching a new course. The AGTQ (Achievement Goal Tendencies Questionnaire) is an instrument that elucidates students' tendencies regarding their motivations for studying and learning: performance goals (social approval & achievement) and learning. The instrument was applied to 279 students from four engineering majors at private Peruvian universities $(\mathrm{M}=86.76,\ \mathrm{SD}=7.24)$ to establish goal profiles. Cluster analysis allowed for the identification of the presence of combinations of multiple goals in students; this illustrates the existence of four different academic goal profiles that will allow for different pedagogical strategies to be designed for the university classroom.