94

July 2019

OPINION

The Via Universitŕria programme and the importance of better understanding university students

Miquel Martínez and Ernest Pons - Professor of Educational Theory, member of the Education in Values and Moral Development Research Group (GREM) at the UB and an EcoViPEU researcher · Associate professor of Economics at the UB and an EcoViPEU researcher

B94_EstudiantUniversities have been the scene of important changes in recent decades. Among other things, these include changes in the cultural capital, skills and competences, as well as the motivations, of new university students. Available data show that a shift is taking place in the social understanding of what it means to "be a university student”. Different ways of understanding what study and involvement at university are also being developed. On the one hand, there is a trend towards new-entry students being increasingly older, each with a different pace of life due to family, social or economic reasons. Students for whom, in many cases, a university education is not their sole interest, either because they have a job to maintain at the same time or because of other activities that require their attention. On the other hand, changes have also been observed in the intensity and models of student commitment.

Although previous initiatives did exist, interest in the living and study conditions of students gathered pace with the setting up of the European Higher Education Area. The final communiqué of the ministerial summit in London in 2007 stated that "higher education should play a strong role in fostering social cohesion, reducing inequalities and raising the level of knowledge, skills and competences in society". It also proposed achieving these objectives by ensuring that students reflect social diversity in all levels of education, including higher education.

This has prompted the need for a better understanding of the socio-economic and cultural profiles of students and their characteristics and living and study conditions in order to guide decision-making in relation to university policies and to achieve higher levels of equity and equality. To this end, several countries have set up observatories and instruments for researching the life of students at university. At European level, the Eurostudent network has become a leader in the systematic analysis of the socio-economic conditions of students. Unfortunately, there has possibly been insufficient interest in the social dimension of higher education in Spain and even today it still does not participate in the Eurostudent network on a stable basis.

It is within this context that Antonio Ariño and Ramón Llopis, at the University of Valencia, started a survey on the living and study conditions of students and their participation in university life (ECOVIPEU) in 2009. This initiative was cut short in 2011 due to ministerial changes, although it served as the basis for the Via Universitària project that the Vives Network would give impetus to from 2013 onwards. The purpose of this project, the results and findings of the second survey study of which have just been released, is to better understand the quality of life of university students in Catalonia, their study conditions and environments, their connection with the institution, their cultural habits, economic factors and their expectations. The results and findings should serve to guide education policies dealing with degree courses and, at the same time, prove useful for universities in defining strategies and policies.

Interestingly, one of the main contributions of second Via Universitària survey study is the finding that there continue to be substantial inequalities in access, as well as in the conditions of living and study both in higher education and in the prior stages of education. In short, with two survey studies, the Via Universitària programme has now become consolidated as a strategic instrument for the universities that form part of the Vives Network, and also as a result of the involvement of AQU Catalunya in the project. Mention must also be made of the contribution of numerous individuals, including researchers, technical staff and student representatives who very kindly cooperated, without forgetting the more than forty thousand students who responded to the second edition of the survey study.

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