PROMOTING THE EDUCATIONAL OFFER OF UCV TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM DISADVANTAGED AND UNDER-REPRESENTED BACKGROUNDS

Location/geographical coverage

Implemented in The University of Craiova, Oltenia Region, Romania

Replicated in most Romanian universities

Craiova is the sixth larger city in Romania (269,506 inhabitants as of 2011), situated in the middle of the historical region of Oltenia, administrative residence of the Dolj county.

Background and description

The University of Craiova was founded in 1947 and currently ranks topmost among the Romanian higher education system. The University of Craiova is integrated to the academic European community, sharing its cultural, moral, scientific and educational values. It undertakes public accountability with respect to the quality of the study programmes, scientific research and services to community.

With a view to increasing access to higher education, it is necessary to offer support and to attract a larger number of applicants from disadvantaged or under-represented groups who are appropriately qualified for access to university level of study. Marketing higher education programs should focus on services provided to people, and how these programs cater for young people’s needs and specificities, and less about historical dates and buildings.

There is a great need to become more focused and tactical in university’s approach to cooperating with high schools and community stakeholders in order to ensure the outreach achieves optimum levels and impact.

Support offered by universities is essential in all stages starting from early engagement, for admission, to progress during studies and to succeed in their careers. Early and sustained outreach is crucial in boosting ambitions, particularly of youth from poor families and communities where is no history of members going onto higher education (such as poverty-stricken rural or Roma communities from Romania).

To broaden access to university programs, UCV is constantly striving to identify and to offer support for students from all disadvantaged or underrepresented groups for admission and during their studies to ensure they will graduate with success.

High school students from remote areas, or from underprivileged backgrounds have first and foremost difficulty finding relevant information with reference to their possibility to gain access to higher education. The University of Craiova regularly carries out specific activities designed to provide complex services of promotion, counselling and mentoring, within the current educational context, in order to increase access to the education offer of the University of Craiova for high school students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Stakeholders and Partners

The beneficiaries are high school students in the county of Dolj, as well as students at the University of Craiova. Among stakeholders there were local employers with a vested interest in the graduates from UCV.

The general objective was the development and adaptation of strategic promotional, information and counselling programmes of UCV to current need, regarding the educational context, as per implicit alternatives (online education) to the classical teaching-learning system.

Number of high school students from underprivileged backgrounds in the south-west region Oltenia who benefitted from information and promotional campaigns for the UCV educational offer (adapted to the current specific strategies for online education): 5000

Number of from underprivileged backgrounds students and students at risk who benefitted from (information, career, educational, support, crisis) counselling: 400

Number of mentorship programs for high school students (10^th to 12^th grades) from underprivileged backgrounds: 1

Number of student satisfaction surveys carried out among UCV alumni regarding the level of knowledge and practical abilities acquired during studies: 1

Number of UCV online intersectoral career forums for employers from in the south-west region Oltenia and UCV graduates: 1

The institution involved in the good practice is UCV through its management board, financial office, admission and administration offices.

Methodological Approach

How was the practice implemented?

• information about the UCV study offer for students from disadvantaged backgrounds published on all faculties webpages
• organizing thematic counselling sessions (online)in order to provide a more personalized approach for interaction with UCV students and to help them insert on the labour market.
• organizing information and  counselling sessions, in order to provide a more hands-on approach for interaction with prospective students and to encourage a wider range of students to apply for admission.

Explain how this approach is participatory for all and inclusive (inclusive of gender and other underrepresented groups): 

• UCV provides clear and understandable messages for all students with the potential to succeed at the higher education programs and it encourages those from under-represented groups to consider UCV as a viable choice. Students from these categories receive support before, during and after admission to university

How are data compliance and protection issues addressed?

• Data compliance and protection ensured on GDPR regulations

Explain how this approach is participatory for all and inclusive (inclusive of gender and other underrepresented groups): 

• UCV provides specific and targeted information and data for all high school students and encourages those from under-represented groups to consider our university as an attractive option.

How are data compliance and protection issues addressed?

• Data compliance and protection ensured on GDPR regulations

Explain how this approach is participatory for all and inclusive (inclusive of gender and other underrepresented groups): 

• UCV provides specific and targeted information and data for all high school students and encourages those from under-represented groups to consider our university as an attractive option.

Resources involved:

• Academic staff involved in university open days, academic and administrative staff involved in the admissions process, university webmaster, administrative staff from student hostels, etc.

Validation

Evaluation: the practice implemented had as results

1) More than 400 students at risk, from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds were provided with counselling services (information, career orientation, educational guidance, at-risk intervention, emotional support).

2) A mentoring programme – UniCeleVi, was aimed at high school students in the 10 – 12th grades, coming from underprivileged backgrounds in the south-west of Oltenia.

3) An employability study carried out among UCV graduates, which aimed at identifying the satisfaction degree with regard to theoretical knowledge and practical abilities they acquired and developed during their studies.

4) An UCV career intersectoral online forum, in which representatives of employers from the S-W Oltenia region had the opportunity to participate with job offers and professional development prospects aimed at UCV graduates.

Continuous improvement process:

• More on-site and on-line events for marketing university programs and widening access support should be organized such as: open days, visits and advertising campaigns among high schools from disadvantaged communities.
• obtaining funds to support students through national projects such as: “Complex services of promotion, counselling and mentorship, in the current educational context, in order to increase access to the UCV educational offer, to high school students from underprivileged backgrounds”

Innovation potential

Offering support for high school students from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups to continue their education at university level was considered an innovative action undertaken by UCV.

Success Factors

The conditions needed are:

• funds for financing admission and social grants for disadvantaged groups
• availability of academic staff to organize on-site visits to inform students in schools from poor communities, as well as open days and online events
• funds for improving and maintaining the online counselling forum
• availability of academic and IT staff to offer admissions support services

Constraints

Constraints addressed:

• sharing information with students from disadvantaged groups (some don’t have access to Internet)-> visits to high schools by university transport means

Lessons learned

The students from disadvantaged backgrounds received considerable support for admission and during their studies. The practice had a great impact for high school students from remote area who couldn’t afford to get information and support for admission as well as for UCV students who were at risk of abandoning their studies.

Students, both men and women, from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as families with low incomes and from deprived rural communities are encouraged to access and continue their education at university level thanks to social grants, admission tax free for orphans, separate admission places for Roma students, etc.

Sustainability

The practice has been institutionally, socially, economically sustainable.

The key elements to be put in place for the practice to be institutionally, socially, economically and environmentally sustainable are:

• academic and administrative staff involvement, funds to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds in admission and afterwards, funds offering students in need technical support (tablets, etc.).

The practice is conducive to a decrease in abandonment of studies for students from underprivileged environments and safeguards better access to higher education for students from low-income families, support during studies and provision of assistance and guidance through all educational process.

Replicability and/or up-scaling potential

The practice has been replicated in similar contexts in other universities at national level.

The circumstances that are to be reproduced so as to ensure that the good practice is replicated, are securing the necessary funding for admission support and counselling during studies for students from underprivileged or underrepresented groups. UCV won several national competition-based projects from the Fund for Institutional Development which contributed to broader access for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, assisting high school students from rural regions as well as young Roma students, to enrol in our programs and to continue their university studies.

Conclusion

The good practice provided by UCV represent a significant example of how universities can still provide access to their educational offer under pandemic conditions, in order to render the university studies attractive to students from underprivileged areas and to assist them in pursuing their studies.

Contact details

MĂNESCU Leonardo-Geo leonardo.manescu@incesa.ro

URL of the practice Reference document

https://www.ucv.ro/

Related Web site(s)

https://ccoc.ucv.ro/

Related resources that have been developed

Employability study to assess student satisfaction