INCLUSION STRATEGIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INDIVIDUALS, STUDENTS, SOCIAL AND PEDAGOGICAL VULNERABILITY CONTEXTS

The Computer Science School of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina, through its Secretary of Extension, maintains an institutional policy for the social inclusion of young people who are interested in studying at the university, through its "Economic Aid Scholarship Program". In this sense, this policy of educational inclusion is coherent with the central guidelines of the UNLP and those established by Act 24521.

Economic aid scholarships, along with other institutional strategies, are oriented to contributing to students remaining in university, asserting the position that higher education is a right and that the transit through university has a value in the formative process of each individual that exceeds the academic framework and that the experience of passing through the institution contributes to training citizens.

The students of our School come from diverse sociocultural contexts, with different families and life experiences. These factors affect the complexity of their academic development. The commitment of the public institution is to acknowledge this complexity and heterogeneity and to commit to accompanying and containing these young people in their goal of studying at the School, offering an economic aid through the Scholarship Program.

A contextualized approach to the case at hand should mention that the scholarships awarded are distributed among first-year students in a percentage close to 30%, with the rest of the scholarships serving students who are more advanced in their studies. It is also worth noting that most of these young people are the first in their families to embark on university studies.

The population that composes the group of applicants for the scholarships is made up of young people from Argentina itself and from Latin American countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay and Dominican Republic residing in La Plata, close to La Plata, towns across the Province of Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. This data shows the diverse and heterogeneous nature of the prospective students.

In relation to the socio-educational dimension, in general they are students that come from public schools – first generation of university students whose parents often have not finished high school. In relation to their academic insertion, they present difficulties in some subjects. However, the interviews conducted also reveal a lack of awareness and certain difficulties in accessing the information regarding the academic offer for support, as well as hindrances to raising questions in class and forming groups to study.

The financial aid scholarship program is not an isolated strategy – it was conceived by the Secretary of Extension as a fundamental tool to contribute towards individual and institutional educational goals. It provides sustained support that is highly valued by the students who receive it, not only for the economic aspect but also because it is aimed at granting social support in the framework of the inclusion criteria of education as a right and the need for understanding and committing to individuals that wish to excercise it.