Rural higher education and territorial justice: The UNICAM model as a transformative practice

Abstract

This article analyzes the academic, psychosocial, and community impact of the University in the Countryside Program (UNICAM) in Nicaragua, conceived as a strategy for educational inclusion and territorial justice in historically excluded rural areas. Drawing on critical pedagogy, popular education, social capital, and human capabilities approaches, it frames the right to higher education from a situated and transformative perspective. A mixed-methods design with a quantitative emphasis includes two complementary studies: a correlational analysis (n = 233) examining scholarship perception and academic performance, and a pretest–posttest study (n = 120) measuring changes in self-esteem, empathy, social adaptation, and emotional regulation. Statistical results show a positive effect of the scholarship on retention, academic achievement, and emotional well-being, with notable improvements in self-esteem (82.5%), emotional regulation (83.1%), and social adaptation (81.7%). The results suggest that UNICAM can be understood as an educational practice with transformative potential, one that reconfigures the university as a space for cognitive justice and community rootedness, particularly for adult students and those with interrupted educational trajectories.