Gramática Cognitiva Ronald W Langacker

Key findings

Students’ age: Age is a major differentiating factor between student populations in EUROSTUDENT countries. Students’ mean age varies between 20 years in the youngest and 29 years in the oldest country. Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine have the youngest student bodies, while the Nordic countries Finland, Norway, and Sweden have especially high shares of students aged 25 and older.

Students with children: The share of students with children is very different across the EUROSTUDENT countries. Overall, older students tend to have children more often than younger students do. The highest share of students with children can be found in Estonia, Norway, and Sweden, where at least 20 % of students have one or more children. The majority of students’ children is under six years old in almost 80 % of countries.

Gender balance: In almost all countries, the majority of students are women. Only in Germany and Ireland is the share of female students below 50 %. Women also make up a larger part of students without higher education background in three quarters of EUROSTUDENT countries. Especially large shares of women can be found in humanities subjects as opposed to engineering subjects. The share of females is at least 13 percentage points higher in the former, indicating that gender is related to subject of study in all EUROSTUDENT countries.

Students with migration background: In two thirds of the EUROSTUDENT coun- tries, the share of 2nd generation migrants does not exceed 10 %. Switzerland, Mon- tenegro, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, and Ukraine, with shares above 15 %, are the six EUROSTUDENT countries with the highest share of 2nd generation migrant students. The five countries with the lowest share of 2nd generation migrants are Finland, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Georgia. In these countries, no more than 2 % of students are 2nd generation migrants.

Students with impairments: In three quarters of the EUROSTUDENT countries, no more than 5 % of students report that any health impairments they may have present (quite) a big obstacle. In about half of the EUROSTUDENT countries, the most widespread impairments are chronic diseases which in these countries afflict between 3 % and 16 % of the students.

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Main issues

The student body in (not only) European higher education has undergone significant changes over the past decades. In many countries, expansion of higher education has led to increased diversification of the student population. This chapter will take a look at the student populations in the different countries with a special focus on non-tradi- tional students.

Diverse student populations

With increasing diversity of the students entering higher education, the term “non- traditional students” has been coined, referring to students who deviate in some way from the majority of students previously making up the student body. What exactly makes a student “non-traditional” has been defined in different ways; however, the term is often applied to students who fulfill one or several of the following criteria (Kim, 2002; Madhani, 2012; Orr, 2010, 2012):

Different with regard to socio-demographic characteristics, i.e. older students (age 25+) and women.

Different life circumstances: Students who have dependents other than a spouse, are single parents, do not have a higher education entrance qualification, or students with impairments.

Different social background characteristics: students without higher education background

( Chapter 3), migrant students, and students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Further indicators distinguishing non-traditional students from their peers that have been discussed include a delayed entry into higher education ( Chapter 2), studying part-time ( Chapter 5), being financially independent of parents ( Chapter 7), and work- ing full-time ( Chapter 6).

Looking at the number of indicators that have been associated with the term “non- traditional student”, it becomes apparent that on the one hand, it is unlikely that only one at a time will apply to a student, on the other hand, it is likely that at least one will apply. In other words, many students will be “non-traditional” in one way or the other. An awareness of this diversity of students is important for policy-makers and HEIs in order to develop appropriate support mechanisms which effectively serve the needs of the different groups.

This chapter will therefore explore how diverse the student body in European countries is with regard to selected socio-demographic characteristics, life circumstances, and migration background. Key questions are:

What is the age profile of students in the different countries? How many students have children?

What is the gender balance in the EUROSTUDENT countries? Are differences appar- ent with regard to levels of education, subjects or HEI type?

How many students have a migration background?

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Methodological and conceptual notes

This chapter describes national student populations with regard to age, students with children, gender, students with migration background, and students with impair- ments. As all EUROSTUDENT data, the numbers reported are based on students’ self- reports.

Students with children

Students with children are a special student group as they are usually under an addi- tional burden of having to care for their children. This may leave them with less time and resources to devote towards their studies than their childless counterparts. The

EUROSTUDENT core questionnaire stipulates that students are to be asked to indicate whether they have any children, if so, how many, as well as the age of their youngest child. No specifications with regard to biological relatedness or place of residency of potential children are made. Reponses may therefore include biological children of students who are not living with their parents as well as any kind of children who de- pend on the student in social and economic ways, e.g. adopted children, stepchildren, foster children, the partner’s children, etc.

Students with impairments

Chronic disease, physical disabilities or other kinds of health problems may impair students in taking up or completing studies. In many countries, policy or national law stipulates that prospective students should not be deterred from entering or complet- ing their studies due to disabilities, in particular, physical disabilities. Students with severe health problems may be more likely to require counseling and support during their studies than their counterparts.

The data presented in this chapter are based on the self-assessment of students. Stu- dents were asked to indicate whether they have “a disability, long standing health problems or functional limitation”. The answer specified which impairment(s) the student has: chronic diseases, mental health problems, mobility impairments, sen- sory impairments (vision or hearing), learning disability (ADHD, dyslexia), and/or other long standing health problems categories (multiple responses possible). In a second step, students who had indicated any impairments were asked to rate to what extent these present an obstacle to their studies.

As countries have very different traditions of defining what constitutes a disability or impairment, comparability between countries is limited. It is questionable whether students in the different EUROSTUDENT countries share a common understanding of impairments. The analysis in this chapter is therefore focused on students who indi- cated that their impairment was (quite) a big obstacle to their studies (Figure 4.6), regardless of the type of impairment. For within-country analyses, the more detailed data might prove valuable ( DRM).

Migration background

The term “migration background” is used to refer to students who have a history of migration either themselves or in their immediate family. With regard to higher educa- tion, students with migration background may have different or additional needs as

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compared to their peers. Griga (2013) names language, social background, educa- tional aspirations, legal status, and gender as the key factors in which students with migration background may differ from their peers from an educational sociology point of view. All of these factors may (negatively) influence study choice, entry, and progress of students with migration background1. While language and legal status in all prob- ability have more relevance to students who migrated themselves, i.e. were born in a country different from the one they are undertaking their studies in, social background, educational aspirations, and gender roles may also influence students who did not migrate themselves but come from a family in which at least one parent was born in a different country.

The definition of the concept “migration background” in the EUROSTUDENT project takes into account the place of birth of students and that of their parents. The different migration states are defined as follows:

2nd _{generation migrant: At least one parent was born abroad and the student was}

born in the country of the survey;

1st _{generation migrant: At least one parent and the student were born abroad;}

domestic student: Both parents and the student were born in the country of the survey;

other: Both parents were born in the country of the survey and the student was born abroad.

This definition entails that the groups of “1st generation migrants” will be made up to a large part of international students, who are, according to EUROSTUDENT Conven- tions, classified according to their first school leaving qualification. For this reason, the analysis will mainly focus on 2nd generation migrant students.

Strengths and shortcomings of EUROSTUDENT data

As the EUROSTUDENT national surveys will not always capture a perfectly representa- tive sample of the respective student population, statistics regarding age and gender may be more accurate when based on administrative data, e.g. from Eurostat. Despite this caveat, our data can be expected to highlight the same pattern of results. More- over, some data presented in this chapter are not captured in many national statistics systems. This holds true especially for data regarding students with children, age of students’ children, and students with impairments, and is a great advantage of the

EUROSTUDENT data set. Additionally, the EUROSTUDENT data set allows for a dif- ferentiated analysis of the different focus groups ( Chapter 1, DRM), which is hardly possible with any other data source.

Notes on national surveys

There are some differences with regard to the questions concerning students’ impair- ments in the national surveys.

Austria: Students were asked in two steps to answer first whether they have any impairment, and were then asked to give details on the kind of impairment or chron- ic disease (with the option to state „I do not want to give further information“). 1 Furthermore, different ethnic minority groups within a country may differ from each other (see, e.g. Jackson, Jonsson, &

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