Jornada Unimob
Press
The UNIMOB project shows that reaching university is an important achievement for many Roma people, but it does not guarantee real equality. Racism, precariousness, and the lack of professional networks still weigh heavily.
It describes this as “incomplete social mobility”: the educational ceiling is broken, but not always the labour, economic, or symbolic one. That is why it calls for continuous support, more job opportunities, and policies against structural racism.
Anthropologist Ábel Bereményi began an ethnographic study at a secondary school in Badalona where there was a large Roma population in order to understand what was happening.
“Schools have a strong voice, but families, the community, and Roma associations are rarely heard. At that time, very few Roma students made it to upper secondary education,” he explains.
What period are we talking about?
Twenty years ago. He was conducting research across five autonomous communities. We already knew there were problems in the education system and that it was unable to respond…
Conferences
📍 AIDIPE 2026 JUNE, GRANADA
The presentation analyses the role of university guidance and tutoring in the educational trajectories of first-generation Roma university students in Catalonia and Andalusia.
The findings show that formal university guidance rarely appears as a visible, accessible and continuous resource. Instead, university trajectories are often sustained through an ecosystem of support agents: families, teaching staff, scholarships, Roma organisations, peer networks and community role models.
One of the key ideas is that university inclusion cannot depend on occasional or fortuitous support, but requires more proactive, continuous, intersectional guidance policies that are connected with the third sector.
Thank you to all the people who shared their trajectories and made this research possible! And thank you also to the entire research team.
#UNIMOB #AIDIPE2026 #UniversityOfGranada #HigherEducation #RomaPeople
📍 COCA 2026 JANUARY, BARCELONA
At CoCA 2026 (Conference of Catalan Anthropology) within Symposium 17 “Education and neoliberalism. Towards a new pedagogical rationality”, Ábel Bereményi presented the paper “Career guidance as neoliberal governmentality and the precarious integration of Roma youth”.
The presentation offers a critical reading of certain guidance practices and socio-cultural mediation initiatives aimed at Roma young people during the transition from education to work. Drawing on empirical evidence and the framework of governmentality and neoliberalism, its central argument is that, beneath an inclusive veneer, some forms of career guidance can operate as a technology of minority governance: rather than addressing the structural causes of exclusion (segregation, precarity, racism and discrimination), they tend to shift responsibility onto individuals, promoting “activation”, adaptability and employability as moral imperatives.
The paper highlights the risk that career guidance may ultimately channel educational failure or disengagement into short-term pathways and precarious labour-market insertion, managing inequality without altering its underlying mechanisms. It therefore argues for reclaiming the purpose of guidance: moving towards an emancipatory process, with evaluation criteria that go beyond counting “people attended/placed” and with the capacity to generate institutional and collective change.
📍 ECER 2025 SEPTEMBER, BELGRADE (SERBIA)
Ábel Bereményi and Ainoa Jiménez have presented a paper – also co-authored by Ángel Heredia and Anna Aroca – at the ECER Conference, in Belgrad, September 2025. Title: Minorities’ distinctive social mobility trajectories through university? A comparative study in Spain.
The paper shares early findings from the UNIMOB project and explores how university can become a pathway of upward social mobility for young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in Spain, with a particular focus on Roma and non-Roma first-generation university graduates. Drawing on an the ongoing UNIMOB project conducted in Catalonia and Andalusia, the research looks at how these graduates narrate their own educational and professional journeys, and how they make sense of the changes brought by university education.
Rather than understanding success only in terms of obtaining a degree or accessing better jobs, the study examines the personal and social dimensions of mobility: the distance travelled from the family’s social position, the speed of that change, and the role played by different forms of cultural capital. These include embodied resources such as language, confidence and academic dispositions; objectified forms such as access to books, cultural goods and technologies; and institutionalised forms such as degrees and qualifications.
The preliminary analysis is based on five in-depth cases selected from the Catalan sample of the project. These cases suggest that resilient mobility trajectories are supported not only by individual effort, but also by family support, school environments, peer cultures and broader social opportunities. The findings also point to the importance of understanding minority mobility as a distinctive process, shaped by negotiation, meaning-making and the challenge of moving between different social and cultural worlds.
Presented at one of Europe’s major educational research conferences, this paper contributes to current debates on inequality, resilience and higher education, while advancing UNIMOB’s broader aim of understanding the diverse university-based mobility trajectories of Roma and non-Roma graduates in Spain.
Vídeos
Videos from the UNIMOB project on the GREDI YouTube channel.
UNIMOB #1 | La universitat canvia realment la vida?
UNIMOB #2 | Quina distància has de recórrer per arribar-hi?
UNIMOB #3 | Quan ascendir socialment té un preu
UNIMOB #4 | No només importa arribar
UNIMOB | Investigar també és descobrir-se
Veus UNIMOB | Quan algú confia en tu #recerca #poblegitano
Veus UNIMOB | Tenim l’obligació de retornar? #gitano
Veus unimob: societat civil 5 #unimob_ub #educaciósuperior #poblegitano
Veus UNIMOB: societat civil 4
Veus UNIMOB: administració 3 #unimob_ub #educaciósuperior
Veus #unimob_ub : administració 1
Veus UNIMOB: societat civil #poblegitano #universitat #educación #gitano
Veus unimob. Societat civil 1
Veus UNIMOB | Els referents que ens acompanyen
Veus UNIMOB | Triomfar vol dir allunyar-se de les teves arrels?
Veus UNIMOB | Qui va fer possible la meva trajectòria? #poblegitano #educaciósuperior
Veus UNIMOB | Quan estudiar no és l'única feina
Veus UNIMOB | Quan la preparació troba l'oportunitat #educaciósuperior #poblegitano
Veus UNIMOB | Els estudis que van impulsar la meva carrera
Veus UNIMOB | Més capital cultural, no una altra persona
Veus UNIMOB | D’on vinc i on he arribat #educaciósuperior #poblegitano #recerca #universitat
Jornada unimob: La universitat obre les mateixes oportunitats a tothom?
Videos from the UNIMOB project on the GREDI TikTok profile.
@gredi_ub ++ «• Arrenca el projecte #UNIMOB_ub ! L'equip del GREDI ja està en marxa! 8 Abel Bereményi, Ainoa Jiménez, Anna Aroca i Angel Heredia han començat les primeres reunions i formacions d'UNIMOB, un projecte que vol generar coneixement i impacte sobre la mobilitat social dels joves gitanos. Investigació amb proposit Compromís amb la inclusió i la justícia social Transformació educativa des de l'evidència Amb una mirada interdisciplinaria i connectada amb la realitat, #UNIMOB treballarà per analitzar i promoure oportunitats reals per als joves en transició educativa i laboral. Perquè la recerca no només es fa als despatxos, sinó que transforma vides! Aquest és només l'inici d'un projecte amb molt per dir i per canviar. Estigueu atents perquè serà gran! #Educaçãonclusiva #SocialMobility #HigherEducation #RomaInclusion #EducationResearch #SocialJustice #EquityInEducation #GREDI #EducationalEquity #InclusionMatters #EducationForAll ♬ original sound - gredi_ub
@gredi_ub 🎓 ¿Qué implica realmente ser el primero en tu familia en llegar a la universidad? Spoiler: no es solo esfuerzo y ganas. La movilidad social tiene un precio que nadie cuenta: sentirse diferente, fuera de lugar o solo en un entorno que no siempre acompaña. 🔍 El proyecto UNIMOB investiga la relación entre movilidad social y educación superior. Porque acceder a la universidad no siempre significa sentirse parte de ella. 📢 Queremos hablar de esto. Visibilizar lo que implica dar el salto a la educación superior cuando el entorno no siempre acompaña. Porque progresar no debería tener un coste emocional tan alto. 💬 Síguenos y únete a la conversación con #UNIMOB_ub. Es hora de cuestionar, entender y actuar. ✊🎥 #EducaciónSuperior #MovilidadSocial #PrimeraGeneraciónUniversitaria #IgualdadDeOportunidades #Educación #SuperaciónPersonal #HistoriasDeVida #Inspiración #DesigualdadSocial #educacióninclusiva ♬ original sound - gredi_ub
@gredi_ub 📢 Ser gitano y llegar a la universidad no es solo estudiar, es romper barreras que llevan siglos ahí. 🎓🔥 Muchos gitanos y gitanas que acceden a la universidad lo hacen con más obstáculos que los demás. No es solo cuestión de recursos, sino de sentirse fuera de lugar, sin referentes, como si estuviéramos en tierra de nadie. 📍 ¿Pero tener un título universitario realmente nos abre puertas? ¿O los estereotipos y la discriminación siguen pesando? Desde UnimoB investigamos cómo la educación superior puede transformar nuestras vidas, pero también qué sacrificios implica. Queremos que nuestras voces sean escuchadas. Queremos saber qué te frena y qué te impulsa. 💬 Comenta, comparte y hagamos que este mensaje llegue lejos. ✊🏽✨ 🔗 #unimob_ub #gitanos #educacion #inclusion #diversidad #igualdad #universidad #movilidadsocial #rompiendobarreras #futurosinlimites ♬ original sound - gredi_ub
@gredi_ub 🌟 Descobreix els secrets de la comunicació no verbal en entrevistes de feina! Les nostres estudiants d’Educació Social de l’assignatura Comunicació Interpersonal i Social @educaciosocial_ub han preparat uns tips increïbles que no voldràs perdre’t. 🎓✨ 🗣 La comunicació no verbal és clau en qualsevol entrevista de feina. Gestos, mirades, postura… tot comunica! A través d’aquest reel, les nostres estudiants ens mostren com els petits detalls poden fer una gran diferència a l’hora de causar una bona impressió. 👩🎓 Estem molt orgulloses de compartir aquest treball amb vosaltres. Les nostres estudiants han fet una feina fantàstica i mereixen tot el reconeixement per la seva dedicació i esforç. 💼 Sigues el millor candidat a la teva pròxima entrevista gràcies als consells de les nostres futurs professionals de l’Educació Social! #EducacióSocial #ComunicacióNoVerbal #EntrevistaDeFeina #ConsellsProfessionals #UniversitatDeBarcelona #OrgullUB ♬ original sound - gredi_ub
Other social media posts:
Related publications derived from previous projects
Bereményi, Á., Durst, J., & Nyírő, Z. (2024). Reconciling habitus through third spaces. How do Roma and non-Roma first-in-family graduates negotiate the costs of social mobility in Hungary? Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 54(3), 460–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2243441
Bereményi, Á., Ribot, A., & Silberman, A. (2024). Revisió sistemàtica de les publicacions sobre població gitana a Catalunya 2004-2023. Informe final. Departament de Drets Socials, Generalitat de Catalunya.
Bereményi, B. Á. (2018). Costes de la movilidad entre gitanas y gitanos con trayectorias académicas de éxito. In A. Rodrigo & J. Masó (Eds.), (Re)visiones gitanas: Políticas, (auto)representaciones y activismos en diálogo con el género y la sexualidad (pp. 137–172). Bellaterra.
Bereményi, B. Á. (2023). Between choices and ‘going with the flow’. Career guidance and Roma young people in Hungary. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Training, 23, 555–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-022-09536-0
Bereményi, B. Á., & Durst, J. (2021). Meaning making and resilience among academically high-achieving Roma women. Szociológiai Szemle, 31(3), 103–131. https://doi.org/10.51624/SzocSzemle.2021.3.5
Bereményi, B. Á., & Girós-Calpe, R. (2021). ‘The More Successful, the More Apolitical’. Romani Mentors’ Mixed Experiences with an Intra-Ethnic Mentoring Project. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42(5–6), 881–897. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2021.1941765
Bereményi, B. Á., & Hellgren, Z. (2022). ‘But later you regret it’. Roma youth navigating aspirational dilemmas. Profesorado. Revista de Currículum y Formación Del Profesorado, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.30827/profesorado.v26i3.24415
Bereményi, B. Á., Sánchez-Martí, A., & Vergnano, C. (2023). Població jove gitana: Formació i mercat laboral a Barcelona. Ajuntament de Barcelona, Barcelona Activa.
Durst, J., & Bereményi, Á. (2021). ‘I Felt I Arrived Home’: The Minority Trajectory of Mobility for First-in-Family Hungarian Roma Graduates. In M. M. Mendes, O. Magano, & S. Toma (Eds.), Social and Economic Vulnerability of Roma People (pp. 229–249). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52588-0_14
Durst, J., & Bereményi, Á. (2024). False promises and distinct minority mobility paths: Trajectories and costs of the education-driven social mobility of racialised ethnic groups. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 54(3), 355–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2024.2321862
Durst, J., Nyírő, Z., & Bereményi, Á. (Eds.). (2023). A társadalmi mobilitás ára. Első generációs diplomások és az osztályváltás következményei. Gondolat.
