ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1589030
This article is part of the Research TopicEmpowerment Through Education Innovative Interventions for Higher Education StudentsView all 20 articles
PROTEUS -PROmoTing succEss in UniverSity: A results assessment
Provisionally accepted- 1Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2Catholic Research Center for Psychological, Family and Social Wellbeing, Faculty of Humanities, Portuguese Catholic University, Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
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The promotion of success in higher education has been extensively researched, with decades of studies contributing to a substantial body of knowledge on the topic. Research indicates that reducing dropout rates and fostering academic success require a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interactions between individual, social, and institutional factors. Specifically, regarding institutional factors, it is important to enhance resources, facilitating both academic and social integration, and promoting student motivation and skill development as key areas for intervention. While some factors influencing student success may lie beyond the control of higher education institutions, there are critical aspects that can be shaped to create a more supportive environment conducive to student achievement. This paper outlines a series of initiatives designed in line with these findings and tailored to the institutional context in which they were implemented. These efforts are part of the PROTEUS project—Promoting Success in University—funded by Portugal’s Directorate-General for Higher Education. It also presents results from a quantitative study evaluating two distinct cohorts of first-year students: one group assessed prior to the implementation of these initiatives (Wave 1; n = 265), and a separate group assessed after their implementation (Wave 2; n = 115). The evaluations in both waves focused on key areas such as academic experiences, overall well-being, psychological well-being, and health behaviors. Results indicate that in comparison to the pre-intervention cohort (Wave 1), students in the post-intervention cohort (Wave 2) reported improvements in academic integration, psychological well-being, and health-related behaviors. These findings suggest that the PROTEUS project contributed to a more supportive academic environment and enhanced student outcomes. The main conclusion is that targeted institutional interventions can effectively promote student success and reduce dropout risk.
Keywords: Portugal, higher education, Academic success, PROTEUS project, Quantitative study
Received: 06 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Carneiro Pinto, Costa Ramalho and Branquinho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joana Carneiro Pinto, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal
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