Non-traditional students, university trajectories, and higher education institutions: a comparative analysis of face-to-face and online universities

In recent decades, the number of students accessing higher education has grown, leading to a greater diversity of student profiles and modalities of studying. This means a new scenario among higher education institutions in which online universities are becoming increasingly relevant. The aim of thi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Sánchez Gelabert, Albert|||0000-0002-4135-6121
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/439312
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/439312
https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/SP2020-4-3
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:University trajectories
Non-traditional student
Dropout
Online university
Longitudinal analysis
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge::Ensenyament universitari
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge::TIC's aplicades a l'educació::Ensenyament virtual (eLearning)
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge::Gestió i planificació educativa::Avaluació educativa (avaluació del procés)
Descrição
Resumo:In recent decades, the number of students accessing higher education has grown, leading to a greater diversity of student profiles and modalities of studying. This means a new scenario among higher education institutions in which online universities are becoming increasingly relevant. The aim of this article is to explore how students’ university trajectories differ according to age, gender, and university type at three Catalan universities (N = 20,745). For this purpose, we carried out a sequence analysis to identify university trajectories and then compared them according to the study modality (face-to-face/online) and the student profile (traditional/non-traditional). The results show differences in university progression trajectories among non-traditional students according to the university type. In particular, there was a higher incidence of dropout at face-to-face universities among non-traditional students. In the case of online universities, in contrast, dropout was not a phenomenon exclusive to non-traditional students, with similar dropout rates among all students regardless of profile.