As expetativas acad??micas que os estudantes apresentam quando ingressam no ensino superior afetam o n??vel de investimento nas atividades curriculares e no seu desenvolvimento psicossocial. Partindo de uma amostra de 890 alunos, este artigo descreve a constru????o e valida????o do Question??rio de Perce????es Acad??micas: Expetativas. Teoricamente o question??rio era composto por sete dimens??es ou dom??nios de expetativas: forma????o para o emprego, qualidade da forma????o, desenvolvimento pessoal, intera????o social, qualidade da institui????o, press??o social, e envolvimento pol??tico e cidadania. As an??lises fatoriais conduzidas vieram, no entanto, confirmar a exist??ncia relativamente aut??noma e consistente de cinco dessas dimens??es, n??o se confirmando a dimens??o da qualidade da institui????o e do desenvolvimento pessoal. ?? poss??vel que, os alunos do 1?? ano que est??o a ingressar no ensino superior n??o conhe??am suficientemente a institui????o e os seus servi??os para, em torno da sua qualidade, formularem expetativas e, por outro lado, ao n??vel do self, em virtude das dificuldades socioecon??micas ?? poss??vel que estes estudantes estejam hoje menos expectantes em rela????o ?? sua autonomia. Novos estudos e com amostras mais representativas devem ser realizados de forma a aprofundar os n??veis mais elevados de expetativas, em geral, encontrados tomando os alunos mais velhos, do ensino superior polit??cnico e do ensino noturno. ; The academic expectations of first-year students in Higher Education affect their engagement in schoolwork and psychosocial adjustment. Based on a sample of 890 first-year students, this paper presents the development and validation of the Academic Perceptions Scale: Expectations. Theoretically, the scale included seven expectation dimensions or domains: training for employment, quality of schooling, personal development, social interaction, quality of the institution, social pressure, and political and citizenship engagement. However, factor analyses confirmed the presence of five fairly independent and consistent dimensions and failed to confirm two dimensions: quality of the institution and personal development. It is possible that first year students do not know sufficiently their institution and its services in order to formulate expectations adjusted to the quality of the educational institution they attend. In addition, and due to socioeconomic hazards, these students are probably expecting a less autonomous self. Further research is recommended, as well as the inclusion of more representative samples, to advance the study of higher levels of expectations found among older students, in higher polytechnic education, and attending night classes.