The university experience involves a wide range of educational activities, both in and out of class. Educational research shows that college student’s development of social, relational and personal skills is closely related with their activities outside the classroom (Reason at all, 2007), with the nature of the course and with the student’s academic experiences (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Student’s activities and institutional practices, such as cooperation among students, active learning, prompt feedback, student- faculty interactions, student’s participation in different educational practices, and an institutional environment perceived as inclusive, are related with higher levels of student engagement (Kuh, 2004, 2005; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005).

  Since ever, universities do play a central role in this domain that crosses the wide range on organizational experiences: from regular classes to student interactions with faculty and peers, from opportunities to engage in research activities to situations where we engage in conversations with different others, from out-of-class and extra-campus experiences to engagement in the civic society.

Considering the recent changes in European higher education, the so-called Bologna process, and its implications and challenges to the role of universities (Zgaga, 2009; Biesta, 2009), the main purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of both curricular and co-curricular activities in the development of student’s social and personal development during their college experience.

Zgaga (2009) identifies four archetypal models that broadly correspond to the historical functions of the university: the Napoleonic, predominantly emphasizing the role of the university in preparing students for their future professional roles; the Humboldtian, underlying the development of knowledge and research; the Newmanian, stressing the personal development of students; and the Deweyan, with a focus on community engagement and citizenship. These four functions – career development, promotion of knowledge and research, personal development and citizenship coexists today in contemporary visions of the role of higher education in Europe (Zgaga, 2009).

This paper focuses on the analysis of quantitative data from a study with students from integrated master courses of Engineering and Psychology, and considers how in- and out-of-class experiences are contributing to the development of student´s personal and social skills.

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