We are carrying out a three-year research , which purports, among other aspects, to assess to what extent learning approaches of students have an influence on their academic achievement, as some previous studies indicate (Camarero, Martín and Herrero, 2000; Cano, 1995; Hernández Pina, 2000; Kember, Jamieson, Pomfret and Wong, 1995). The conclusions herein exposed are the result of our first year of work. We chose the Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) as measurement instrument developed by Biggs and Kember (2001). This instrument was devised including some modified items from the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) previously developed by Biggs (1987a, 1987b). It comprises 20 items, divided into two sub-scales: one surface approach sub-scale and another deep approach sub-scale, each of them consists of 10 items for evaluating motives and strategies (surface or deep motives and strategies depending on the scale). The questionnaire is constructed using Likert-scale format with five possible answers, ranging from "never or only rarely" to " always or almost always". We have carried out a validation of the questionnaire for Spanish students, with a 545-student sample from the two public universities of the city of Valencia (Spain): University of Valencia/Estudi General (UVEG), with approximately 46.000 students and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), with approximately 30.000 students. There were 319 students from UVEG and 226 students from UPV in the sample. Previously, we had carried out a representative sampling of students from both universities, which was balanced proportionally for both of them, with a level of confidence of 95% and a maximum margin of error of 5%. We found out a good degree of internal consistency. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .807 for the surface approach scale and .768 for the deep approach scale. It was carried out a factor analysis of principal components with oblimin rotation in order to verify the construct validity. We found four factors: the first factor corresponds to a surface motive and strategy (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .782), the second factor corresponds to a deep strategy and motive (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .796), the third factor corresponds to surface motive and strategy (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .636), and finally, the fourth factor corresponds to a deep strategy and motive (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .388). Two factors were found in a second-order factor analysis using first-order factors as variables. The first factor contained all surface motive and strategy items, and the second factor comprised all items corresponding to deep motive and strategy. Therefore, the factor analysis confirms the theoretical structure supported by Biggs and Kember (2001).Later, it was established a correlation between the scores corresponding to the four factors and the grades obtained by students in seven subjects through Pearson correlation, where significant positive correlations were found between grades and the second and fourth factors (both including deep strategy and motive), as well as significantly negative correlations between grades and the first and third factor (both including surface motive and strategy). Also, it was carried out a cluster analysis following k-means procedure introducing factor scores as variables in order to establish student groups formed depending on their learning approaches Two groups were found: the first group, consisting of 203 students, with a surface approach, and the second one, consisting of 308 students, with a deep approach. Later, the existing differences (ANOVA) in grades between the two groups were examined. It was found out that in the seven examined grades, there were always higher mean scores in the group of students with a deep approach. Besides, differences were statistically significant in four among seven grades. Therefore, there is a clear relation between learning approaches and grades/academic achievement (Camarero, Martín and Herrero, 2000; Cano, 1995; Valle, González Cabanach, Núñez, Suárez, Piñeiro and Rodríguez, 2000).On later stages we will prove this relation within a more complex structure (taking the model developed by Gargallo (2002) as starting point, which is based on models developed by Ramsden (1985), Biggs (1993) and Pintrich and Strauben (1992). It will include the influence of student learning approaches on their academic achievement together with other relevant dimensions.