Best Practices in Higher Education: Improving Vulnerable Groups Academic Access and Success

Author(s):

Anna Díaz-Vicario(presenting / submitting)Aleix Barrera-Corominas(presenting)Miren Fernández de Álava

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 04 C, Higher Education: Issues for Inclusive Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B026 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Gottfried Biewer

Contribution

In the last years, the work developed by different countries in order to promote access in higher education has been important (the Organization of Ibero-American States [OEI, in its Spanish acronym], 2010). Nevertheless, there are still social, cultural, economic and geographical gaps that make equal access difficult (Aponte-Hernández, 2008); being the Latin American and Caribbean context one of the most restrictive regarding access in higher education (International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean [IESALC, in its Spanish acronym], 2006).

European and Latin American countries consider that increasing the access and the number of graduates in higher education is a strategic goal which needs work and resources. The achievement of this aim must deem that “the attainment of educational potential in higher education should not be the result of personal and social circumstances, including factors such as socio-economic setting, sex, ethnic group, immigrant condition, place of residence, age or disability”(the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2008, p. 14).

That is, necessary measures must be implemented to ensure that personal and social situations do not determinate its academic access and success in higher education; considering that current trends in this level are (OECD, 2008): (1) extension of undergraduate education systems; (2) service diversification; (3) heterogeneous grouping; (4) new financial measures; (5) increasing importance of results and balances; (6) new perspectives on institutional governance; and (7) connection, mobility, and global collaboration.

Taking into account the above-mentioned premises, and the strategic goal pursued, the European Commission gives priority to the establishment of steps that encourage the development of higher education in Latin America in order to permit regional development, in socio-economic terms (the Official Journal of the European Union [OJEU], 2006). To put into operation these guidelines was the seeds of birth of ALFA III, the programme for cooperation between higher education institutions of the European Union and Latin America, where the ACCEDES project “Academic access and success of vulnerable groups in risk environments of Latin America” is involved (Ref. DCI/ALA/2011-232).

ACCEDES (http://edo.uab.cat/accedes) count on the participation of 24 institutions for higher education from 20 countries (16 Latin Americans) and whose aim is to improve the academic access, promotion, and success of vulnerable groups who live in risk environments of Latin America. Among other lines of action, there is one aimed at identifying strategies and programs in higher education for the inclusion of vulnerable groups. This line, which forms part of the main goal –to promote networks among different institutions for higher education in Latin America-, consists of: (1) identifying bibliography and resources related to academic access, stay, and success in higher education; and (2) identifying best practices (BP) carried out in higher education in order to encourage undergraduate students’ access, stay, and success.

But, what does vulnerability mean? We define vulnerability as “the condition that affects social groups who have passed through [or who pass through] an exclusion and discrimination, product of structural conditions, that can bring them to be socially, politically, educationally, culturally, and economically-excluded, and this system is the one that cause the belonging and integration of someone into the society (Gairín & Suárez, 2012, p. 45).

This contribution focuses its interest on describing the process followed to identify BP in the Latin American context, under the premise that these BP should be spread over other institutions from this field when it comes time to improve situations of inequality. It is sine qua non that every BP identified complies with some selection criteria –described in the following section- such as transferable and replication.

Method

The purpose of this research is descriptive, because it seeks to provide an accurate description of access, stay, and success in higher education. A qualitative method of data collection is employed (Bisquerra, 2004), because the line of action is to identify and accurately describe strategies and/or programs that improve academic access and success of vulnerable groups among institutions for higher education in Latin America. The universe is formed by all the institutions for higher education in Latin America, and the target population is the entire group of institutions for higher education in Latin America that carry out strategies and/or programs focused on improving access and success of vulnerable groups in some key moments (previous to the access, during the academic career, and graduation) in the education of students. A fact sheet was administered to a population of 19 participants, producing 59 strategies and/or programs from which 49 were usable (n=16, of previous to the access; n=16, of during the academic career; n=4, of graduation; and n=13, of global). ACCEDES team defines BP as the set of activities and actions of proved effectiveness in terms of students’ academic access, promotion, and success, and in terms of being useful to other agents interested in the improvement of higher education (Fernández-de-Álava, Barrera-Corominas, & Díaz-Vicario, 2012, p.221). Likewise, this team takes into account 4 indicators: (a) transferable to other contexts or countries; (b) impact, from the access, stay, and success point of view; (c) continuing over time; and (d) participation, that is, collective involvement or management involvement, among others. The first two indicators are considered essential. In order to organize the record and description of BP, a fact sheet is designed following 3 dimensions: (a) identification of BP; (b) description of BP; and (c) analysis of BP. Moreover, it includes a section to write an abstract and 3-5 keywords, keeping in mind that those BP are included in an online database. Due to the number of researchers, who get involved in the description of BP, we form a working group to focus on validation of every experience provided considering the abovementioned 4 indicators, and on suitability of information. This process entails eliminating some of the strategies and/or programs that, due to their characteristics and/or results obtained up to now, do not reply to the concept of BP agreed on the working group.

Expected Outcomes

This contribution relies on the identification of 59 strategies and/or programs that institutions for higher education in Latin America implement in order to favour academic access and success of those students who, for social, educational, cultural or economic situations, show a bigger risk of exclusion (Gairín & Suárez, 2003). Among this amount of strategies and/or programs, 49 were considered BP because they meet needs of transferable, impact, sustainability, and participation. In a preliminary analysis of the descriptions of the BP identified up to now, we see that strategies and/or programs implemented during the training process in order to take care of vulnerable groups are the following: (a) previous to the access (programs for high school-college cooperation; programs for college promotion and students attraction; pre-college programs; and weeks of welcome); (b) during the academic career (tutoring programs and study programs; and community service programs); (c) graduation (programs of transition between college and the labour market, and alumni programs); and (d) global (financial aid programs; and curriculum improvement programs). This distinction allow us to complement previous contributions focused on services offered by colleges (Swail, Redd, & Perna, 2003) or nature of actions (Gairín, Feixas, & Rodríguez-Gómez, 2010), and to establish a classification that consider: moment, nature, and typology of services. The profit from this line of action is an OpenAccess database (http://projectes.uab.cat/accedes/). It provides visibility to strategies and programs classified as BP, and resources to institutions. That way they can design their own effective proposals and have an effect on the rate of vulnerable groups. Future works will be focused on a comparative analysis and in depth of BP with the goal of defining general guidelines that can be useful to institutions in order to define policies that guarantee equal opportunities in access and stay.

References

Aponte-Hernández, E. (2008). Desigualdad, inclusión y equidad en la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe: tendencias y escenario alternativo en el horizonte 2021. En A. L. Gazzola y A. Didriksson (Eds.) Tendencias de la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe (pp. 113-154) Caracas: IESALC-UNESCO. Bisquerra, R. (Coord.) (2004). Metodología de la investigación educativa. Madrid: La Muralla. Fernández-de-Álava, M., Barrera-Corominas, A., & Díaz-Vicario, A. (2012). Buenas prácticas para fomentar el acceso y el éxito académico de grupos vulnerables en la educación superior. En J. Gairín, D. Rodríguez-Gómez, & D. Castro (Coords.) Éxito académico de colectivos vulnerables en entornos de riesgo en Latinoamérica (pp. 219-246). Madrid: Wolters Kluwer. Gairín, J. & Suárez, C.I. (2012). La vulnerabilidad en educación superior. En J. Gairín, D. Rodríguez-Gómez, & Castro, D. (Coord.). Éxito académico de colectivos vulnerables en entornos de riesgo en Latinoamérica (pp. 39-62). Madrid: Wolters Kluwer. Gairín, J., Feixas, M., & Rodríguez-Gómez, D. (2010). Estratègies per a la retenció. En J. Gairín, P. Figuera, & X. M. Triado (Coord.). L’abandonament dels estudiants a les universitats catalanes (pp. 115-130). Barcelona: AQU Catalunya. International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean [IESALC] (2006). Informe sobre la educación superior en la América Latina y el Caribe. La metamorfosis de la educación superior. Caracas: IESALC. Swail, W., Redd, K., & Perna, L. (2003). Retaining Minority students in higher Education: A framework for success. ASHEERIC Higher Education Report, 2(30), 1-200. Official Journal of the European Union [OJEU] (2006). Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 Of the European parliament and of the council of 18 Decembre 2006 establisihing a financing instrument for development cooperation. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] (2008). Teritary education for the knowledge society. Volume 2: Special features: equity, innovation, labour market, internationalisation. París: OECD. Organization of Ibero-American States [OEI] (2010). Metas Educativas 2021: La educación que queremos para la generación de los Bicentenarios. Madrid: OEI.

Author Information

Anna Díaz-Vicario (presenting / submitting)

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA

BELLATERRA

Aleix Barrera-Corominas (presenting)

UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA

BELLATERRA

Miren Fernández de Álava

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Departament de Pedagogia Aplicada

Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)

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