Education-to-Work Transitions in First-Generation University Graduates in New Universities of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina

In recent years, Argentina has experienced a process of expansion of the public university system, through the creation of new national universities between 2007 and 2016. These institutions were born with an inclusive objective, seeking to offer university education to social sectors that previously did not have access to this educational level. Thus, in several of these universities (and particularly in those located in the Greater Buenos Aires area, that is, in the districts surrounding the City of Buenos Aires, characterized by population concentration and social inequality), a high percentage of students are the first generation of their families to achieve a university degree.

The university’s promise for these students is not only obtaining a degree, but also achieving a job in their professional field. However, there are authors who warn about the risk that the stratification of the university field affects the employment possibilities for students who come from less prestigious institutions. In this context, this paper analyses the university-to-work transitions in graduates from two of these new universities of Greater Buenos Aires, graduates who are the first generation of their families to access university. A particular research interest is wether there are or not intergenerational social mobility processes and which are the factors associated with such processes. Gender differences in these transitions are also explored. These aspects are examined in three different professional fields: health sector, engineering and social sciences.

To answer our questions, we appeal to a biographical approach, as the reconstruction of trajectories will allow us to relate the experiences and subjective choices of students with the institutional structures and devices (both within and outside the university) that condition them, limit them or, on the contrary, open up opportunities. To do so, we reconstruct life stories of graduates from in-depth interviews with a biographical script.