Mudanças de expectativa dos estudantes quanto a profissão escolhida após ingresso no ensino superior: um estudo de caso para os graduandos em Ciências Econômicas da UFPB

Abstract

The choice of a profession, as well as an undergraduate course, which covers both aspects of demand by students and supply by universities, and, therefore, is a dilemma faced by many students and that a wrong choice can entail in personal and financial losses, authors such as Garcia and Dersio (2007) and Lagioia et. al (2007), investigated the circumstances that lead students to such a decision for the Administration and Accounting courses, respectively. Thus, as verifying student expectations improves the relationship between the university and students, which is beneficial for both and there is a gap for this discussion in Economics, this research aims to capture the perception of students in Economic Sciences of UFPB regarding their formation, as well as the process of changing their expectations. For this purpose, two data sources were used, one secondary, collected at the university and the other primary, obtained through the application of online questionnaires (one pilot and one definitive) with which students were asked about their expectations. Thus, it was observed that students changed their expectations in different aspects. Due to the fact that most of the interviewed students have little or no knowledge about the Political Pedagogical Project of the course, they feel that their expectations regarding the subjects and skills they would develop during their graduation were not met. Another change in perceived perception was in relation to the area of expertise, since more than half of the analyzed sample showed a lack of interest in working in the training area. In addition, students' income expectations show how students, on average, do not expect an increase in income in the long term and how the pandemic scenario has affected their perception of salaries. A simulation carried out in the questionnaire, in which respondents were asked about their expectation of future income within and outside a pandemic context, indicated that students expect lower incomes when the pandemic is mentioned.