31 décembre 2023
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement//750444/EU/Marie Curie H2020 (Individual Fellowship)/WELCOME-UNIVERSITY
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Germán Dario Fernández-Vavrik, « Welcome practices for incoming students in England: mediation and boundary-work », HAL-SHS : sociologie, ID : 10670/1.i1dadb
This paper proposes a theoretical discussion of university welcome practices to facilitate the inclusion of and familiarity with incoming students. The research is based on a case study of three English universities in the London area hosting students from diverse social backgrounds; interviews were conducted with staff from various professional ranks who interact with or take care of incoming students. The core idea is that welcome practices shape the boundaries of universities by carrying out a social process of mediation within their respective environment. This is a twofold frontline mediation that implies what I call intermediation and mediatisation. Intermediation is face-to-face guidance and support for students, whereas mediatisation is the semiotic configuration of the environment in which the students circulate. Serving conflicting purposes, from democratic access to culture to heteronomous submission to business, frontline mediation orients incoming students and influences their choices in line with the overt and latent aspects of universities.