Barriers and facilitators to the retention and participation of socially, economically, and culturally disadvantaged university students. An international systematic review

Abstract

One of the major challenges still facing universities is the achievement of inclusion in all its areas since the main progress made so far has been in terms of access. The aim of this systematic review is to detect the barriers and facilitators for the retention and participation of university students with social, economic, and/or cultural disadvantages. The search conducted of the Scopus and Web of Science databases yielded 31 articles (between 2015 and 2020) that met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate a notable coincidence between the barriers and facilitators: economic, cultural, linguistic, family and motivation. These data will help universities design actions that make it easier for all students to attend and participate fully in university life under conditions of equality.