Trajectories, epistemic tensions and retention challenges of Indigenous university students: A Colombian case mixed-analysis

In Colombia, only 6% of Indigenous youth access higher education despite legal protections, facing persistent socio-economic exclusion and statistical invisibility within universities. This mixed-methods study investigates the experience of Indigenous students at Universidad Antonio Nariño (UAN), Colombia, combining longitudinal enrolment data with interviews from 37 students, faculty and staff. Despite growing Indigenous youth enrolment amid declining non-Indigenous participation, 40% drop out within the first three years (24% in the first year). Epistemic frictions between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems emerge, with Health/Social Sciences retaining students better than Engineering/others. Women, comprising 59% of UAN’s Indigenous youth, demonstrate greater persistence despite intersectional oppressions of sex/gender, class, race/ethnicity and sexuality. Specific strategies include first-year retention programs leveraging communal responsibility and curricular integration of Indigenous epistemologies into culturally resonant fields. Far from special treatment, this constitutes structural redress for historical exclusion, yielding graduates who bridge community needs with professional competencies. Future research should track longitudinal graduation rates across Colombian universities.