Universities are currently going through different moments and historical times (Hernández & Sancho, 2021). They are permeated by tensions, conflicts and interests that often diverge from the construction of knowledge and the strengthening of students' intellectual and personal autonomy, thus impacting social transformations in contemporary times. We believe that accessing  university students' perspectives and establishing a collaborative dialogue on their learning trajectories and understandings of university life can allow us to reflect upon the constitution of the university institution. As well as the teaching and academic practice.

The present research is part of a research project aiming to investigate the learning trajectories of university students who choose teaching as a profession in Brazil. Understanding the learning processes of young university students from their perspectives may unfold complex issues concerning university political, social, economic, architectural, and educational dimensions.

In this paper, we analyse multimodal narratives focusing specifically on students' understandings of the role, spaces and relationships established regarding the university learning. Questions addressed are: How  do students understand the university? What kind of learning does the university offer? What learning opportunities are constructed by students themselves? How is the construction of pathways perceived  inside and outside contexts? What expectations do students have concerning the university?

The critical understanding (Moody, 2015) assumed in this research moves us away from the dualisms established in eurocentric, colonial theoretical frameworks, which standardise university projects and disregard the multiplicity of social, local constructions and the diversity in learning processes (Rosiek, Snyders & Pratt, 2019).

The research presented is work-in-progress, which allows partial reflections. The participants are three university students who study different degrees throughout Brazil, to become teachers. From a post-qualitative research framework, participants are invited to produce their learning cartographies, understood as visual, multimodal and rhizomatic narratives (Rivera-Vargas, Climent, Rivera-Bilbao, 2021; Carrasco, 2021; Padilla, Hernández & Sánchez, 2021; Riera et ali., 2021). Researchers carried out interviews with students through videoconference. The tools used, based on life stories (Erstad, 2013; Erstad, Gilje & Sefton,Vasbo, 2009; Erstad & Sefton, 2012), allowed us to understand territories and agencies, moving away from traditional conventions that do not show the singularity of specific and broad universes. This architecture makes it possible to approach not only cognitive, but also affective, bodily, social, aesthetic and technological dimensions of lived experiences (Hernandez & Sancho, 2007). Based on the construction of cartographies and diaries, discussed through recored and transcribed interviews, we organised the analysis to expand knowledge about the university itself from the perspectives of students, highlighting connections among the diversity of contexts, the constructed trajectories and the learning ecologies (Guattari, 2001; Guattari & Deleuze, 1995).

The research in progress points us to relevant understandings in relation to the University from the perspective of the students themselves, evidencing the current movements of University. In the students' narratives, historical processes and the influence of the neoliberal logic that invades university projects are addressed, often reducing them to concepts of entrepreneurship, with logics of consumption and profit. They also reveal the importance of the current moment to expand the University, considering its essential role in the critical and transforming construction of society, in a complex movement about its performance in the training of students, from new possibilities, especially considering the training of future teachers. It is necessary to think of an open University and beyond the focus on the job market, but on the construction of knowledge and acting in society, with actions that transform the dimensions and contribute to social responsibilities, considering the presence of the voices of all those involved.

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