Barriers and facilitators perceived by students who enter the university through unusual routes

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to provide greater clarity in identifying the difficulties of access to university for students coming from non-traditional backgrounds in Catalan public universities. This purpose is developed under the approach of two general research objectives: a) to analyse the causes that lead students to access university through non-traditional pathways and b) to analyse the barriers and facilitators perceived by students who access university through non-traditional routes. To finally, propose a model that aims at reducing the barriers and promote the facilitators identified. The research approach is of a mixed nature, intertwining qualitative and quantitative approaches with the application of instruments from both methods. The selected cases are two routes to access university which are considered as non-traditional pathways: a) route 4 for students with a vocational training and assimilated, and b) route 9 for students coming from the over-25 access test. As for the sample, it is composed of new entry students at public universities in the province of Barcelona.