Transition from post-compulsory secondary education to university requires that universities propose actions that facilitate the integration of new freshmen. This period can be presented to freshmen as a chance, guiding him to success in the new learning environment of the university. In this sense, universities are getting more and more concerned about advise and respond to the needs of the students, providing guidance and assistance both at the beginning of the title and in the course of their studies [1,2].

In the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), through the Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación (ICE), several actions are conducted to inform and advise at two levels:

·         Pre-university level: Includes Open Days, specific information on the institutional web site, brochures, and working groups of secondary school and university teachers.

·         University level: Mainly during the first year. This level includes Welcome Days, a mentoring program called PATU, psychologist counselling, training on demand, etc. framed in an institutional project to facilitate transition from secondary education to university.

We consider a theoretical frame where institutional actions are expected to be run at the beginning of the freshmen stay at the university. These actions will provide guidelines to new freshmen in order to placed themselves properly in the new academic and social frame. Our work treats two key moments: The first one reports the assessment by freshmen of their first days at the university. The impact of the Welcome Days as the first institutional measure to facilitate the integration of new freshmen in their degree, school, and university is evaluated [3]. The second one reports what is the assessment given by the freshmen at the end of the first semester, concerning the adaptation of the freshmen from the academic and social point of view. This data belong to a research project that aims to identify factors that can explain an optimal success of freshmen in order to set models that can be generalized and introduced to new freshmen, as far as possible[1], see also [4].

[1] Research Project “La excelencia en los estudiantes universitarios desde un enfoque longitudinal: Análisis de factores incidentes y diseño de un modelo de intervención”, supported by MICIN, reference EDU2009-08518 directed by Bernardo Gargallo.

[1] Gairín, J. y Feixas, M. (2006): La transición secundaria-universidad en la UAB. Presented at the 9º Congreso Interuniversitario de Organización de Instituciones Educativas. Oviedo, Spain. [2] Gairín, J. (coord.); Feixas, M.; Guillamón, C.; Muñoz, J.L.; Quinquer, D. (Julio, 2006): La transición secundaria-universidad desde la óptica de sus protagonistas. IV Congreso Internacional Docencia Universitaria e Innovación. Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona. Spain. [3] Capilla R., Conejero J.A., García E., Rodríguez, C. & Vivancos, V. (November, 2010). University choice: What do secondary school students need to know about a university that would facilitate their choice? Presented at Fedora Psyche Conference. Alicante, Spain. [4] House, J.D. and Prion, S.K. (1998). Student attitudes and academic background as predictors of achievement in college English. International Journal of Instructional Media, 25 (1), 29-42.