A Three-Year Multi-Faculty Evaluation of 16 SI-PASS Schemes: Attendance Thresholds, Performance Gains, and Standardized Metrics

The study scrutinizes 16 iterations of a regular SI-PASS program across four faculties in a Belgian university over a three-year span. The large dataset enables inter-year and inter-faculty comparisons, illuminating the program’s convergent and varying traits. Throughout the study period, 78.32% of the targeted audience attended at least one session. Participants’ reported motives for attending primarily relate to improved understanding of course material and enhanced social integration. A quasi-experimental design exhibits a significant improvement of the mark at the exam in 10 instances. This performance gain is conditioned by five, six, seven, or eight participations depending on the faculty and year concerned. The results are intentionally reported according to standard indicators defined at the European level for SI-PASS and supplemented with locally developed metrics found useful to support program monitoring and institutional accountability. The paper concludes on a call to SI-PASS hosts to share similarly precise and standardized descriptors to uplift international comparability and collective learning.