Trajectories, epistemic tensions and retention challenges of Indigenous university students: A Colombian case mixed-analysis

Carola Gomez; Olga Lucía Reyes Ramírez

doi:10.55146/ajie.v55i1.1990

Authors

Carola Gomez Universidad Antonio Nariño https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5003-938X
Olga Lucía Reyes Ramírez Universidad de la Sabana https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7753-1000

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v55i1.1990

Keywords:

Indigenous peoples, higher education, university, decoloniality, decolonial praxis, mixed-methods research

Abstract

In Colombia, only 6% of Indigenous youth access higher education despite legal protections, facing persistent socio-economic exclusion and statistical invisibility within universities. This mixed-methods study investigates the experience of Indigenous students at Universidad Antonio Nariño (UAN), Colombia, combining longitudinal enrolment data with interviews from 37 students, faculty and staff. Despite growing Indigenous youth enrolment amid declining non-Indigenous participation, 40% drop out within the first three years (24% in the first year). Epistemic frictions between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems emerge, with Health/Social Sciences retaining students better than Engineering/others. Women, comprising 59% of UAN’s Indigenous youth, demonstrate greater persistence despite intersectional oppressions of sex/gender, class, race/ethnicity and sexuality. Specific strategies include first-year retention programs leveraging communal responsibility and curricular integration of Indigenous epistemologies into culturally resonant fields. Far from special treatment, this constitutes structural redress for historical exclusion, yielding graduates who bridge community needs with professional competencies. Future research should track longitudinal graduation rates across Colombian universities.

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Author Biographies

Carola Gomez, Universidad Antonio Nariño

Carola Gómez is an Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Education of the University Antonio Nariño. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Los Andes (Colombia), and is a Sociologist with a Master’s degree in Interculturality from the University of Strasbourg (France) and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Los Andes (Colombia). She has 12 years of experience in social and educational projects related to transformation of pedagogical practices, curriculum and evaluation, and peace building in educational contexts. She is part of the research group named Consciousness, classified B in Colombia. Her research interests are teacher training, curriculum and evaluation, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Olga Lucía Reyes Ramírez, Universidad de la Sabana

Olga Lucía Reyes Ramírez is a Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Education, a member of the research group Education and Educators, and Director of the research line Pedagogy and Childhood in the Doctorate in Education at Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia). She is part of the international research network Peabiru: Educação Ameríndia e Interculturalidade (Brazil). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Pedagogy; a Specialization in Theories, Methods and Techniques of Social Research; a Master’s in Education from Universidad Pedagógica Nacional; and a Doctorate in Education from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Her research focuses on intercultural education, Indigenous childhood in urban settings, Indigenous pedagogies and teacher education.

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