Multivariable Analysis of Academic Competencies in Psychology Programs: The Case of Colombia

This study analyzes the academic competencias of psycology students in Colombia using multivariate statiscal techniques. The motivation behind this research arises from the growing concern about students’ academic performance and the hight dropout rates in higher education across Latin America, which highlight the need to better understand competency development. Despite existing studies, there is a gap in the literature regarding the use of combined multivariate approaches to evaluate academic competencias in psychology programs at a national level.

The methodology is base don a quantitative approach using clustering techniques (k-means and hierarchical clustering) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A dataset containing results from SABER 11 and SABER PRO standardized tests was analyzed, including 97 observations representing universities and departments offering psychologgy programs in Colombia.

The findings reveal the existence of distinct with varying levels of academic performance. Some groups show homogeneity and low variability, while others present significant dispersión in results. Additionally, PCA allowed the reduction of dimensionality and facilitated the idenfication of relationships among competencias, highlighting differences between pre-university and university-level skills.

The results contribute to understandig the academic performance structure in psychology programs and provide useful insights for improving educational strategies and curriculum desing in higher education institutions.