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- Academic trajectories and labour market transitions of mature graduates: a case study from the University of AlgarvePublication . Gonçalves, Teresa; Quintas, Helena; Almeida, António Fragoso deThe Bologna Process, recently implemented in Portugal, has brought many changes to higher education institutions (HEI). One of these changes refers to a law that enables mature students (23 years and older) to gain special access to higher education, taking into account their professional experience. The numbers of mature students are therefore increasing in our country, making our academic population more diverse. Our team has in the past investigated these students’ situation in higher education (HE), in order to provide university management our recommendations to improve students’ success. To continue our research we (two HEI in Portugal) designed a new research project , which partially aims to understand mature students’ trajectories through HE and their transitions to the labour market. Again we hope to provide recommendations for that university management to do more for our students’ employability. In this paper we identify and characterise various dimensions of individual and collective profile of mature students in the University of Algarve (Portugal) and their paths towards labour market integration. Our results show that positive experiences within university context, regarding their learning and competences acquisition. Also it becomes clear that while studying in university mature students developed personal qualities that proved to be determinant to their professions or to the ability of creating their own businesses.
- Navigating through higher education: mature students in transitionPublication . Almeida, António Fragoso de; Quintas, Helena; Ribeiro, Carlos Miguel; Monteiro, Rute; Gonçalves, Teresa; Fonseca, Henrique; Bago, Joana; Santos, LuciliaIn our paper we are going to focus mature students close to 50 years old. We will present the results of two life histories co-constructed with these mature students, who have entered university in the year of 2010/2011. Our particular interest is to investigate how they have lived this very important transition to higher education.
- I will never give up… Life stories of mature students in higher educationPublication . Gonçalves, Teresa; Quintas, Helena; Ribeiro, Carlos Miguel; Monteiro, Rute; Bago, Joana; Fonseca, Henrique; Santos, Lucilia; Almeida, António Fragoso de; Krasovec, Sabina Jelenc; Radovan, MarkoThe Portuguese law 64/2006 allows mature students, older than 23, (M23) to access university, widening the participation of adult population in higher education. This paper is part of a research project focused on the experiences of non-traditional students in higher education. In this paper we analyse the stories of four mature students, with the aim to identify their motives for entering higher education; to understand their relationships with younger students; and to identify the main obstacles they face in their academic life.
- The transition of mature students to higher education: challenging traditional concepts?Publication . Monteiro, Rute; Almeida, António Fragoso de; Gonçalves, Teresa; Ribeiro, Carlos Miguel; Quintas, Helena; Bago, Joana; Fonseca, Henrique; Santos, LuciliaThe Bologna Process, recently implemented in Portugal, has brought many changes to higher education institutions. One of these changes refers to a law that enables mature students (23 years and older) to gain special access to higher education, taking into account their professional experience and other biographical elements. The numbers of non-traditional students are therefore increasing in our country, making our academic population more diverse. We designed a research project to investigate the special circumstances of non-traditional students in our institutions and to provide recommendations that should improve their academic lives. In this article, we describe survey results, focus-group interviews and life histories and use them to understand the transition of mature students into higher education. Our results include interpretations of the factors that students view as barriers to their participation in higher education, the importance of peer support, and reflections on life histories that provide greater insight into the transitional process. Although several barriers were identified by mature students, there is also a positive impact from transition. It is clear that transition today is no longer punctual or linear either in time or space. We should therefore challenge traditional views of the transition concept, in which students are considered to be a problem to higher education institutions, because this diverts attention away from the responsibilities of those institutions towards facilitating change.