First Generation in Chilean Higher Education: Tension between Access and Inclusion in a Segmented University System

Abstract

We analysed the Chilean university student selection processes, comparing ‘First Generation’ and ‘Continuist’ students, using the Chilean Higher Education population databases (2000–2015). Findings confirm that 60 percent of participants in the selection process are First Generation students. The data registers an increasing self‐exclusion phenomenon. Of the students who did not take the selection test after enrolling, 80 percent are First Generation and 18 are enrolled in a selective university, compared to 44 in the Continuist conglomerate. These differences may be explained by cultural capital in the Bourdieu sense, in conjunction with a diversified, massified and marketalised higher education system.

Segmentation in higher education in Chile: Massification without equality

“…This finding in Chile contradicts previous research that emphasized the role of parents' education in developing the cultural capital in the Habitus of their children (Bachsleitner, 2020; Rimkute et al, 2012). While it is the case that first generation secondary graduates were less likely than continuists to enrol in SUA universities (Espinoza, González, Sandoval, McGinn, et al, 2022; Jarpa & Rodríguez, 2021), the current results indicate that parents' education does not explain preference for one kind of a SUA university over another.…”

“…While it is the case that first generation secondary graduates were less likely than continuists to enrol in SUA universities Jarpa & Rodríguez, 2021), the current results indicate that parents' education does not explain preference for one kind of a SUA university over another.…”

“…The current admission process maintains the segregation of students by social origin (Espinoza, 2017; Espinoza & González, 2013). The admission test measures cognitive ability, but scores are also correlated with the socio‐economic origin of the student (Espinoza, González, Sandoval, McGinn, et al, 2022; Jarpa & Rodríguez, 2021). The limitations of the use of the PSU as a selection device have been known for at least a decade (Caiceo, 2013).…”