Influencia de la participación en el deporte universitario en la trayectoria académica de los estudiantes: un enfoque mixto secuencial en la Universidad Nacional de Río Negro en el período 2012-2018

Abstract

Given the centrality that the issue of academic trajectories has taken on in both research and management in Higher Education, this work aimed to evaluate the influence of participation in the institutionally represented university sports program on the academic trajectories of UNRN students belonging to the 2009 to 2018 cohorts and to explore its underlying factors. Taking as reference the comprehensive model for the analysis of academic trajectories proposed by González (2011), a sequential explanatory mixed study with a predominantly quantitative approach was developed with a two-phase methodological approach process. A first phase of quantitative approach to academic trajectories based on data obtained from the institutional records of the UNRN, in which the academic trajectories of the total population of student athletes (n= 710) were described; the types of academic trajectories were determined; The association between academic career and sports participation was established from the comparative analysis of the academic careers of the total population of UNRN students (n=24,698) and the correlation between the level of sports participation and the academic career of the athlete graduates was determined. Based on the data obtained, a second, complementary qualitative phase was conducted, which constituted a first approach aimed at understanding the problem. This phase involved in-depth interviews with eleven (11) graduates. The experiences of student athletes in their academic and athletic careers were recovered and analyzed, and their assessment of the relationship between participation in the athletic program and their academic career was investigated. The study concluded that participation in the representative athletic program had a positive influence on the academic career of student athletes, who registered a statistically significant difference compared to non-athletes in their persistent careers, in re-enrollment in the first and second years, in academic performance, in the graduation rate, and in the length of their degree. This influence could be explained by the favorable effects of participation in university sports on social integration, academic integration, and institutional affiliation, and by the possibility that systematic sports practice from childhood generates and/or reinforces certain dispositions in students that are updated during the university stage and favor academic success.