Institutional policies and practices to improve access and success in higher education: the students’ proposals

Ensuring equal conditions of access and success for all higher education students is a challenging task for educational systems and institutions. Understanding the students’ perspectives and needs regarding educational policies and institutional practices in higher education can be an important contribution to improving the quality of education. This paper aims to identify the main obstacles faced by students and their proposals for the improvement of policies and institutional practices in the Portuguese higher education system to promote access and success for all students. By using a mixed-methods approach, we gathered responses from 1,292 students enrolled in 56 HEIs. Data was analysed through content analysis with a pre-existing grid comprising three dimensions: socio-economic, educational and institutional. Descriptive statistics were carried out for the quantitative data. The results revealed socio-economic factors were the most frequently mentioned as needing improvement, followed by the educational and institutional factors. The results allow concluding that institutional practices and educational policies are directly related. Thus, the institutional and political improvement actions should be seen in a holistic and integrative way, integrating actions to enhance the students’ socio-economic, educational and institutional conditions.

保障全体高等教育学生享有平等的入学机会与学业成功条件，是各国教育体系与高等院校面临的一项艰巨挑战。深入洞悉学生对高等教育领域教育政策与院校管理实践的看法与需求，可为提升教育质量提供重要支撑。本研究旨在识别葡萄牙高等教育体系中学生所面临的主要障碍，以及他们为完善相关政策与院校实践、推动全体学生实现平等入学与学业成功所提出的改进建议。本研究采用混合研究方法，收集了来自56所高等教育机构（Higher Education Institutions，HEIs）的1292名在读学生的调研反馈。研究采用预设编码框架开展内容分析，该框架涵盖社会经济、教育与制度三个维度；针对定量数据则实施描述性统计分析。研究结果显示，社会经济因素是被调研学生提及最多的需改进领域，其次为教育因素与制度因素。结果表明，院校管理实践与教育政策二者存在直接关联。因此，制度与政策改进举措应秉持整体化、一体化的视角，整合各项优化措施以改善学生在社会经济、教育与制度层面的发展条件。