Tutoring on the way to university

Abstract

Tutoring is a strategy that has become a polysemous concept that has a meaning
according to the place and educational level where it is developed. In Argentina, in the
20th century, there was an expansion in enrollment at all educational levels that made the
differences more marked, and institutions had to respond to various difficulties. There is
a process that is known as “exclusionary inclusion” since although the university opens
its doors, it makes no attempt to retain its students. Tutoring became a support device to
address these problems. The “Universitarios por más Universitarios” program is a tutoring
system that complements the “Nicolás Avellaneda” scholarship, which is intended for
students in the last year of secondary education in public schools in the south of the
city, who stand out for their high grades and for presenting socioeconomic vulnerability.
This program is distinguished by personalized support provided by a tutor who is an
advanced student and/or recent graduate of the University of Buenos Aires. These tutors
have developed skills that have allowed them to adapt to university life and it is necessary
to transmit them to the young scholarship holders so that they can access the higher
level in better conditions. General and personalized activities are proposed, designed
and agreed upon in a Tutorial Action Plan. In addition, the tutor remains attentive to
academic difficulties. In conclusion, the population that enters the university for the first
time imposes a series of demands since it is not enough to open the door and enroll them,
but it is necessary to make room for them, physically and symbolically, so that they can
stay, go forward and finish their studies. Tutoring systems like the one we have shown can
become central devices for that objective.