Debates on University models and student desertion

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of student desertion, which affects the entire higher level in Argentina. In relation to this, the main barriers and difficulties to be taken into account when approaching permanence and graduation from the university are presented, together with the active role that educational institutions and the State must assume to contribute to guarantee this right. Here we also discuss the university model, from the perspective of a university at the service of society, which seeks to be inclusive, transformative, and not self-centered. To illustrate these concepts, we present the University Support Workshop (TAU), a specific device promoted by the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires (FFyL, UBA), which aims to accompany students in their educational trajectory and avoid dropping out. This article is in the context and results from a PST (Territorialized Socio-educational Practices) degree seminar: “The right to university: interdisciplinary strategies in the CIDAC-Barracas´ university support workshop” of the FFyL, UBA.