Abstract
Portugal’s body of higher education students has progressively expanded, and opportunities for graduate certification at this level have multiplied. This paper advances factors that may provide a differentiated explanation of successful paths in higher education. It gives a first-hand account of the recent dynamics of participation in higher education in Portugal within the Bologna Process and uses institutional statistics to compare some of its most relevant characteristics with the European framework as a whole. Secondly, we used an extensive survey of Portuguese higher education students to identify factors potentially involved in successful paths and conducted a multiple logistic binary regression. The resulting model therefore included not only social and educational characteristics and backgrounds but also previous school trajectories, attendance of educational institutions and everyday practices. It identified key factors for success in academic careers by reference to a specific policy context and attendance of higher education. Our definition of these factors (dimensions of analysis) was based on the proposals of Tinto (2006; 1997) and Pinto (2002), using the variables available in that survey. Our results point to the relevance of institutional and educational dimensions as differentiated contexts of significance in different academic paths.
Highlights
The aim of this article is to contribute to research into the multiplicity of explanatory factors that combine to produce different educational trajectories in academic success
Though of central significance, we present the results of a model directed at explaining the many factors potentially involved in experiencing success in higher education in Portugal
We developed a model for interpreting success in higher education using logistic regression based on the hierarchy of the different analytical dimensions presented
Summary
The aim of this article is to contribute to research into the multiplicity of explanatory factors that combine to produce different educational trajectories in academic success. While some of them have already been widely tested separately, here we feel it is relevant to obtain a model in which these dimensions are part of an explanatory whole In this sense, the first part presents some of the recent dynamics involved in participation in Portuguese higher education, and proposes a comparative European framework for some of the most important characteristics. This proposal allows us to operationalise some of the fundamental dimensions encountered in the theoretical models of, for example, Vincent Tinto (2006; 1997) and José Madureira Pinto (2002), who analyse successful educational careers These contributions are crucial because they allow us to conduct a multidimensional analysis of academic success, considering social and educational characteristics at the outset, and available indicators of these students’ academic and social integration experiences
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