Socio-cultural factors that favor the permanence of the Bribri indigenous students in the University of Costa Rica

Abstract

This article presents some of the results regarding sociocultural factors that favor the permanence in Higher Education of the Bribri indigenous community. These are derived from the research entitled Permanence of the Bribri indigenous student body of the Rodrigo Facio Brenes Campus, University of Costa Rica: intercultural approach, which was carried out between 2018-2019. The research starts from the naturalistic paradigm under the qualitative methodology and employs the phenomenological method in the research design, access to the field, elaboration of instruments and analysis of the data collected. In-depth interviews and focus groups, as information collection techniques, were used to learn about the university experience of six indigenous students from the Bribri people. The study uses an intercultural approach in the analysis of the factors that promote the permanence of the undergraduate population in higher education, and it is this approach that allows addressing the sociocultural factor in the phenomenon of permanence. Among the main findings is the tendency of the participating population to give special recognition and value to their own culture by rescuing ancestral and spiritual knowledge that makes them proud and identifies them in the university context. It is also concluded the importance of favoring from the university the necessary adjustments so they remains in the higher education system, also, the efforts that the students make are highlighted, among them the cultural ones, when having to move from the indigenous territory to the urban, which represents a way change of context and the complexity of establishing new relationships with other educational agents and factors that has a significant influence in their integral development and academic success.