The presentation, as part of a larger research project, analyzes how university students—primarily of Roma background—pursuing social mobility perceive their university experience and the small community that specifically supports their academic progress.

While the composition of higher education students is becoming increasingly diverse, and individuals who are the first in their families or communities to pursue a degree are appearing, socially disadvantaged groups, including the Roma, remain underrepresented in higher education. To support their successful advancement, it is crucial to understand what kinds of support are available to them and how these supports are provided.

A global trend in higher education indicates that as universities expand access, their student populations become more diverse. This diversification turns the inclusion of new student groups into a sustainability challenge, with efforts aimed at enhancing student well-being as well. Higher education inclusion identifies various student groups and attempts to meet their needs in different ways.

Research on the educational attainment of the Roma population highlights that this group remains almost invisible to higher education. The presentation focuses on the situation in Hungary. While the overall Hungarian population shows an upward trend in educational attainment—with the proportion of those aged 25-64 holding a higher education degree increasing from 20% in 2010 to 29.8% in 2023—the proportion among the Roma population remains around 1-2%, according to the analysis of ethnic data from the 2011 national census.

Our study focuses on Roma students enrolled at Hungarian universities and examines a network of institutions known as Roma Special Colleges, which are designed to support disadvantaged Roma university students nationwide. Based on survey responses from 182 of the 300 students within this network, we analyzed their perceptions of university life and how they view the Roma Student College, an organization created to support them.

Given the pedagogical vision and activities of the Roma Student College, we hypothesized that it supplements formal university education through non-formal methods, bridging the gap between familial and university socialization frameworks. By comparing the five associative words students provided in response to the prompts “university” and “student college,” we gained insights into how a non-formal small community can contribute to enhancing the inclusivity of an institutional environment primarily focused on learning.

The reflections of respondents on their challenges in social mobility further illuminate the role and significance of the Roma Student Colleges.

The data analyzed in this study are part of a research project conducted between 2022 and 2024 in multiple phases. The research included document analysis, surveys, and interviews, targeting all students registered as members of Hungarian Roma Student Colleges in the 2022/2023 academic year (N=300). This presentation focuses on responses to three questions from an online survey conducted in the fall of 2022. All Roma Student College members received the survey, and 182 students completed it. Among the respondents, 81 were male, and 101 were female. Twenty-four respondents (13%) were first-year university students, while the rest were upper-year students pursuing a wide range of academic programs. All respondents faced some form of social disadvantage, whether due to their parents' low educational attainment, living in disadvantaged areas, or difficult socioeconomic conditions; many faced multiple disadvantages simultaneously. Of the respondents, 108 identified as Roma, and among them, 99 were also socially disadvantaged. Research Questions 1. What associations do Roma Student College students make with the university and the special college, and what image of these two spaces emerges from their responses? 2. What similarities and differences can be observed when comparing associations with the university and the special college, and how do these relate to the shared and distinct functions of these two spaces? The first two analyzed questions were the introductory associative tasks: 1. "List five words that come to mind when you hear 'UNIVERSITY'!" 2. "List five words that come to mind when you hear 'SPECIAL COLLEGE'!" Three independent coders processed the survey responses, reconciling their codes to build the analysis database. A word cloud was generated by simply summing the words provided in response to the associative questions. Further structuring of the data was based on several criteria. First, while the order of the words was noted, this aspect was not included in the current analysis. Second, words were categorized as positive, neutral, or negative. The frequency of word occurrences was examined in comparisons of the university and the special college. Additionally, the words were sorted into thematic categories collectively for all words associated with the university (N=881) and the special college (N=893). The thematic categorization was based on distinctions between formal and non-formal spaces, as well as personal actions and emotions. The quantitative data from the survey are presented using descriptive statistics, with the comparison of the two examined spaces being the focus of this research.

The prominent words in the word cloud immediately highlight the characteristics of formal and non-formal spaces. Regarding the university, the focus is on words related to education (e.g., studying, knowledge, exam, diploma) and the associated positive aspects (e.g., future, progress, opportunity). In contrast, the Roma Student College clearly emerges as a positive, personal space (e.g., community, family, help, support). For both spaces, the word “opportunity,” significant for individuals on the path of mobility, and “friendship,” reflecting age-related characteristics, are strongly present. Among all the words from the two associative tasks (N=1,774), 38 words were mentioned more than 10 times, accounting for over half of all responses (N=984). Examining words associated with the university that were mentioned more than 10 times (N=437) reveals that “studying” stands out the most (8.93%), followed by “friends,” “future,” “diploma,” and “knowledge” (4.3–4.2%). Slightly less frequent are “opportunity” and “progress” (3.3–3.4%). For the Roma Student College, words mentioned more than 10 times (N=547) show that “community” is the most prominent (10.08%), followed closely by “friends” (7.28%), “help” (5.71%), and “support” (4.37%). “Family” (4.14%) and “opportunity” (4.03%) are only slightly less frequent. References to “friends” or “friendship” occur nearly twice as often in connection with the Student College compared to the university. Furthermore, words like “safety,” “belonging,” and “love” appear almost exclusively in relation to the Student College. Conversely, words such as “studying,” “knowledge,” “diploma,” and “future” are characteristic of the university. Unsurprisingly, the majority (82.68%) of words associated with the Student College relate to the non-formal space. Within this, concepts of non-formal and informal spaces, along with personal feelings and actions, are closely intertwined and predominantly positive in nature.

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