Relocating within the university. Proposal of a relocation rate based on a study of educational trajectories

The university has undergone important changes in recent years such as the expansion of a greater heterogeneity in the students’ profile. This reality has led to significant changes in the university access, the achievement and the job prospects of university students. Students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different access pathways and are incorporated into the university with different expectations and rhythms, which is producing a diversification of educational paths. In this sense, this diversification leads to a greater frequency of trajectories that trigger changes of degree and dropouts, which has meant that numerous studies have been developed to determine explanatory factors. This paper approaches the changes of degrees and dropouts of university studies using the concept “academic relocation” through an analysis of the educational pathways of 60.300 subjects. The period examined has been six academic years (2009-10 to 2014-15). The main aim is to study “relocations” between undergraduate degrees to propose, from this, a new indicator: the “relocation rate”. The perceived differences between degrees and their grouping by branches of knowledge allows noting important institutional heterogeneity.