Counselling for (disadvantaged) students: Models of intervention and experiences at two european universities

Higher Education is experiencing a critical reform process in which, among other things, the importance of the social dimension has been highlighted. The essential role that the University has to play in promoting social cohesion and reducing inequalities should be translated into the provision of adequate services to students and the creation of more flexible pathways (London Communiqué, ). As a consequence, international studies (such as the Eurostudent project ) have been promoted, allowing a first characterisation of the different “publics” that enter Higher Education, and providing statistical and comparable data on many European countries. However, it is necessary to go beyond this information, adopting a more in–depth perspective that allows us to go deeply into the daily reality of non–traditional students. This paper presents the process and results of research that has been developed in two university contexts which have different traditions regarding the provision of support services for students: the University of Seville and the University of Nottingham. First, a description of the profiles of non–traditional students in both contexts is made, emphasising some of the problems and difficulties they experience. This information comes from the analysis of written narratives of a total of students ( in the University of Seville and at the University of Nottingham). Second, existing services in both universities are described, exploring the opinions of the technical staff of these services concerning the mechanisms and support strategies commonly used. This information has been collected through open– question interviews of technical staff and people in charge of the support services in both universities. Beyond looking at the comparison between the services and profiles in both contexts, the results are intended to serve as a reflection of the strengths and weaknesses in the support given to students with non–traditional profiles, who may present disadvantages and the risk of social and academic exclusio

Empowering non–traditional students’ careers through autobiographical writing

The target group of non–traditional students includes adults, but also first generation students, women in a situation of inequality, workers, people with immigrant origins, and generally students from educationally disadvantaged background conditions. In this paper we will concentrate on autobiographical writing as a tool of empowerment, reflectivity and creation of personal resources to promote completion and avoid drop–out in HE. Autobiography makes it possible to explore the past and the present of the autobiographer in the framework of the family, of the local community and the widest institutional and sociocultural contexts. As a training instrument, autobiography favours: self–knowledge, the ability to analyze the past; the setting up of connections between the experience lived, the present and future projects; and the identification of the most important factors that condition the personal and educational evolution of the autobiographers. Our proposal of educational autobiography has a guided approach. In the training we have aimed to combine group sessions, centred on oral work, with the students’ autonomous work which consists of developing the educational, family and social life story. At the end of the process, each student will have produced two written documents: an autobiographical story and an analysis of this story. In this paper we will present a case study of a disadvantaged student from a rural area, stressing the contributions of autobiographical writing to develop reflective competences and awareness about the relations between individual itineraries, family contexts, and broader sociocultural frameworks. We will specially focus on the analysis of the autobiography done the own student, navigating from subjective narratives to social and cultural comments and reflections. This approach favours innovation and empowerment in HE contexts, making possible the development of the re- flectivity competence.Unión Europea Erasmus Multilateral Projects, nº 517750-LLP-1-IT-ERASMUS-ESI