I didn’t know what to do, where to go - The voices of students whose parents were born in Latin America on the need for care in Quebec universities

Oct 15, 2026

This qualitative study examines the university experiences of Quebec students whose parents were born in Latin America, comparing those who persisted with those who discontinued their studies. Analysis emphasizes the role of cultural capital and students’ understanding of “the student craft” in supporting retention. Students report weak affiliation with the university and perceived deficits in support and care from the institution and its social actors. Findings highlight self-blame alongside institutional coping strategies, concluding that universities should provide better support, clear information on options, and cultivate a caring student community.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Educational Inequalities and Immigration

“I didn’t know what to do, where to go”: The voices of students whose parents were born in LatinAmerica on the need for care in Quebec universities Roberta de Oliveira Soares Université de Montréal Marie-Odile Magnan Université de Montréal Abstract This qualitative study reports the university experiences of Quebec students whose parents were born in Latin America. The analysis, which looks at students who have either persisted in school or discontinued their studies, underscores the importance of cultural capital and, especially, an understanding of the student craft for school retention. The students report a low sense of affiliation with the university, and a perceived lack of support and care from the university and its social actors. Our interpretation of the data highlights self-blame for the challenges faced in university concurrently with the implementation of strategies to meet the challenges of the institution. We conclude by emphasizing how important it is for universities to support students better, adequately inform them about their options and the institution’s inner workings, and form a community with students in a spirit of care. Keywords: university experiences, student craft, care, immigration, Latin America, Canada Résumé Cette étude qualitative relate des expériences universitaires d’étudiants québécois dont les parents sont nés en Amérique latine. L’analyse, qui porte sur les étudiantes qui ont persévéré ou interrompu leurs études, souligne l’importance du capital culturel et, surtout, de la compréhension du métier d’étudiant pour la persévérance scolaire. Les étudiantes rapportent un faible sentiment d’affiliation à l’université et un manque perçu de soutien et de soin de la part de l’université et de ses acteurs sociaux. Notre interprétation des données met en évidence une autoculpabilisation pour les défis rencontrés à l’université en même temps que la mise en œuvre de stratégies pour relever les défis de l’institution. Nous concluons en soulignant à quel point il est important pour les universités de mieux soutenir les étudiantes, de les informer adéquatement sur leurs options et le fonctionnement interne de l’institution et de former une communauté avec les étudiantes dans un esprit de soin. Mots-clés : expériences universitaires, métier d’étudiant, soin, immigration, Amérique latine, Canada Introduction Immigrants from Latin America represent the second-largest ethnolinguistic group having recently immigrated to Quebec (Armony, 2017) . With regard to the labour market, their social network changes in the receiving country, which makes job access—and therefore access to income—difficult (Wilson-Forsberg, 2015) . At school, students whose parents were born in Latin America share certain challenges. Compared with other immigrant groups, they are more likely to need language support in high school, be behind academically when they start high school, come from families with a lower socio-economic status and attend schools in disadvantaged areas (Benoît, 2011) . These conditions can affect their chances of pursuing post-secondary education and Canadian Journal of Higher Education | Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur 52:4 (2022) the quality of the information they receive about orientation options. In Canada and Quebec, young people of Latin American origin appear to have lower educational aspirations than other immigrant groups (Finnie & Mueller, 2010; Kamanzi et al. , 2018) . They face a combination of challenges, have a high dropout or interruption rate, and are overrepresented in adult education and among students with difficulties in the special education sector (Mc Andrew et al. , 2011) . Furthermore, many do not pursue post-secondary education, or drop out of university (Turcotte, 2019) . In this article, which is based on a qualitative methodology, we focus on the voices of these young people to gain a better understanding of the barriers they face and the strat

FAQs

What is the focus of this qualitative study?

The study focuses on the voices of Quebec students with parents born in Latin America to understand barriers they face and strategies they use in Quebec universities, especially in Montréal.

How does the article explain factors influencing student retention?

It underscores cultural capital and, especially, an understanding of the “student craft” as important for school retention, while noting perceived lack of support and care from the university and its social actors.

What do students report regarding their relationship with the university?

Students report a low sense of affiliation and perceive insufficient support and care from the university and its social actors.

Oct 15, 2026

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