Educational modality and performance: Differential patterns by major in a university cohort before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic forced a transition to virtual education in universities, generating differentiated effects according to academic discipline. This study examines how educational modality changes impacted academic performance heterogeneously among university programs.Methods: a descriptive longitudinal study was conducted with a fixed cohort of 442 university students from five programs (Accounting and Auditing, Information Technology, Nursing, Clinical Laboratory, and Civil Engineering) over seven academic periods. Three phases were analyzed: pre-COVID face-to-face (PII_2019), virtual during-COVID (PI_2020-PII_2021), and post-COVID face-to-face (PI_2022-PII_2022), using semester averages on a 0-20 point scale.Results: health programs experienced improvements during virtuality, with Clinical Laboratory (+1,20 points) and Nursing (+0,94 points) showing the greatest increases. Upon returning to face-to-face instruction, all programs declined, with Civil Engineering being the most affected (-1,60 points). The final balance revealed positive outcomes only in health programs: Clinical Laboratory (+0,37 points) and Nursing (+0,28 points), while others recorded significant net losses.Conclusions: results evidence a marked post-pandemic disciplinary polarization, where health programs demonstrated greater capacity for adaptation and sustainability of academic achievements, contrasting with technical disciplines that experienced substantial losses, suggesting the need for differentiated educational strategies by knowledge area.