The Social Dimension of Higher Education: An Exploratory Study for the Validation of Quality Assurance Indicators

The present study aimed to identify, generate, and validate a set of indicators of the social dimension of higher education in the context of quality assurance systems, with a focus on immigrant students and those with disabilities. For this purpose, two research methods were implemented: the systematic analysis of specialized literature and focus groups. The literature review sought to update conceptualizations and good practices in the European and national context. The focus groups were conducted with stakeholders relevant for the social dimension of higher education: academic and non-academic staff, immigrant students, and students with disabilities. The corroborated results revealed a complex structure of potential indicators. The most important criteria were the category of beneficiaries (students with disabilities and immigrant students), the reflected social value (equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion), the target of the specific measures (aimed at students or at academic and non-academic staff), the direction of the measures (top-down or bottom-up), the stage of the educational process to which the indicators refer (recruitment admission, participation, graduation and post-graduation), the level of implementation of the measures (primary measures and secondary measures/meta-measures). The indicators identified in this study allow multiple uses. In relation to the objective of the study, the most important is the possibility of use in the evaluation of the social dimension of higher education in the context of quality assurance systems.