EXPECTATIONS OF FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING COURSES

The theme of this article is related to the expectations presented by the students who begin their academic journey in a Community Higher Education Institution (CHEI), in southern Brazil. This study aims to identify the expectations of incoming students in the different Engineering courses offered by Community Higher Education Institution (CHEI). The methodology adopted is of the qualitative-descriptive type, since it is a case study, where students of Engineering participate in the survey. A statistical survey was done with the demographic data to characterize the research interest group, using the program applied to Statistics - SPSS. Next, a categorization of the answers associated with the open questionnaire about their expectations was done, which was applied to students enrolled in a first semester course. The results show that the students have expectations related to the following categories: labor market; formative quality; knowledge added to professional experience; personal fulfillment and professional training. It is concluded that the expectations of the students, although uncertain and often inconsistent, should be the object of interest of the institution, in order that, in meeting these expectations, it stimulates the student's permanence until his conclusion in the Engineering degree.