In a context where learning mediated by technology has gained prominence in higher education, learning analytics has become a powerful tool to collect and analyse data with the aim of improving students’ learning. However, learning analytics is part of a young community and its developments deserve further exploration. Some critical stances claim that learning analytics tends to underplay the complexity of teaching-learning processes. By means of both a bibliometric and a content analysis, this paper examines the publication patterns on learning analytics in higher education and their main challenges. 385 papers that were published in WoScc and SciELO indexes between 2013 and 2019 were identified and analysed. Learning analytics is a vibrant and fast-developing community. However, it continues to face multiple and complex challenges, especially regarding students’ learning and their implications. The paper concludes by distinguishing between a practice-based and management-oriented community of learning analytics and an academic-oriented community. Within both communities, though, it seems that the focus is more on analytics than on learning.

In this article, the production of knowledge about what is known in the international literature as 'the student experience' is examined. This construct has been researched in the United Kingdom while, in the United States, the "student engagement" has gained traction. Although in Latin America the production of knowledge in higher education has been increasing in the last decade, studies on student experiences are rather scarce, although there are abundant literatures on higher education in general. By means of a bibliometric analysis and a content analysis of articles published between 2000 and 2017 by Latin American authors in two recognized indexes (Web of Science and SciELO), this article examines the production of knowledge about higher education students' experiences from a geopolitics of knowledge perspective. The results show that, in Latin America, there is a diverse production of knowledge about higher education students, and given this plurality, the concept of "epistemic polyphony" is proposed. On the one hand, there is an epistemic predominance of Anglo-Saxon influences but, on the other hand, it also presents specific features related to higher education systems in the region. The article ends with a reflection on the ways in which knowledge is produced in the Latin American region and how such production has an impact on policies.

This article aims to reflect on the institutional ethos of three Chilean, less selective massive private universities, analyzing their organizational identities, discourses, and practices and discussing how the dynamics of the competitive and marketized Chilean educational system influence this ethos. Through a qualitative design, which includes semi-structured interviews with key university staff members and direct observations in formal and informal instances, this article concludes that the ethos of these institutions is structured around four main axes: pluralism and student diversity; the pursuit of excellence as a competitive horizon; the construction of merit as a personal, family, and institutional effort; and education for employability, underpinned by professional ethics and social commitment. Furthermore, we find evidence that the logic of the university market shapes these private universities’ ethos transversally.

This study analyzes the experiences of first generation students. To carry it out, 29 interviews were held with first generation students in different universities in Chile. The results show that the experience of each student is theresult of multiple, interlinked catalysts: (i)aspirations, fears and levels of family support, (ii)contexts which facilitate or hinder the experiences; and (iii)the characteristics of the university. From this analysis there emerges what we call the academic-family aspirational capital, which points to the first generation students' abilities to choose a university, deal with the challenges of higher education and navigate their way through the university. Este estudio analiza las experiencias de estudiantes de primera generación (EPG). Para ello, se llevaron a cabo 29 entrevistas con EPG de distintas universidades en Chile. Los resultados revelan que cada trayectoria es el resultado de la interacción de múltiples catalizadores entrelazados: (i) aspiraciones, temores y niveles de apoyo familiar, (ii) contextos facilitadores u obstaculizadores de las experiencias; y (iii) características de la universidad. De este análisis emerge lo que denominamos capital aspiracional académico-familiar, que apunta a las capacidades de resistencia y navegación de los EPG para escoger y transitar por la universidad.