The authors present a case study discussing student-oriented initiatives to enhance academic achievement. They focus on the academic, psychosocial and motivational weaknesses of students showing how these can be overcome with strategic projects to aid students in their first year of higher education. The case study, a multi-million US dollar project at a regional, state-owned university, the University of Bío-Bío, occurred over a three-year span – 2007-10. The various initiatives created under the auspices of the project take into account the reality that 78.9% of the students are from the lower socio-economic quintiles of the population and have gaps in their linguistic and scientific knowledge, and lack the skills, learning attitudes, learning strategies and motivation necessary for success.

By means of descriptive analysis and gap analysis, it is shown that the implementation of additional academic, psychosocial and motivational support initiatives reduce student dropout rates to 8.7% and 33.7% (in first and third year, respectively); reduce course completion times to 5.1, 5.6 and 7.7 years (in 4-, 5- and 6-year courses, respectively); improve employment, with satisfaction levels of 85% and 95% among graduates and employers; and increase accredited programmes by 82%.

This article contributes to the body of knowledge focusing on methods to enhance national and international education systems, providing strategies to reduce the gap between students’ skills upon admission and those needed to attain academic success in higher education.