The 58 students of the brand new Medicine career of the National University of Río Negro went through the course of the first half of the year in Bariloche. The challenge for the authorities is to retain these students, avoiding any possible desertion.
Until now, only one of the students who had managed to pass all the exams dropped out because she decided to return with her family to Rosario, her hometown.
Ana Domínguez Mon, professor of Medicine and Anthropological Sciences, stressed that the 58 incoming students belong to heterogeneous social groups. “There are middle and upper middle sectors, of professional parents with university education and an important group that is the first university generation. In some cases, their parents were unable to finish high school,” she pointed out.
70% of the incoming students correspond to a “first generation university students”. According to Domínguez Mon, this data is consistent with the general profile of the National University of Río Negro.
Until now, the universities of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba were the most chosen by students who dreamed of studying medicine and whose families might afford their studies in other cities. Very few. The possibility of studying in Bariloche, on the other hand, generated more accessibility for most humble sectors of the city and the region. Many boys, they clarify from the university, reside in the upper neighborhoods of the city.
- 140
- people signed up to take the entrance exam to study Medicine at the National University of Río Negro. Only 58 managed to pass the three stages of admission.
The average age of the students is 24 years old -between 17 and 53- ; while 50% are 21 years old or younger. On the other hand, 88% of the students are from Bariloche, El Bolsón and Dina Huapi. The rest come from rural areas of Chubut and the Southern Line Rionegrina, Viedma and Plottier (in Neuquén).
“There are also people from original communities – Mapuches -. All this gives an interesting profile of students of this career oriented to general and rural medicine. They are boys who, beyond the specialty they choose, will be trained in Human Rights, gender perspective and diversity”, explained Domínguez Mon, who coordinates the Social Body area of the Medicine career.
He said that “despite the social and cultural heterogeneity, there is a convergence in the importance of this profile oriented to work in the territory and in the communities.”
The dream of receiving
The students who passed the entrance filter started the course with the hope of finishing their studies and being able to finance themselves in some way. Some mayors of the region granted scholarships to the students of their localities. “Renting and living in Bariloche is very difficult. Therefore, the dream of the university is to achieve a residence for students and university dining rooms”, he acknowledged.
Other boys are forced to work shifts to help their families. “The latter are finding it difficult to move on. This career involves a lot of study time and hours of study. It requires a lot of personal commitment and discipline.”, warned Domínguez Mon who sets himself the goal of having the 57 students continue their studies until they graduate.
“You have to sustain this profile that cost so much to form. For that, there are students who would require extra help not to drop out of their studies depending on the labor market”, he added.
The university does not rule out the collaboration of foundations or any type of institutional aid. Domínguez Mon recalled that scholarships are processed at the beginning of the year; so they will have to wait until 2023.”For many this is too far”, pointed out the anthropologist.
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