Who cares for the careers? The role of universities in building a new care logic

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of caregiving responsibilities on the academic engagement of master's students at the University of Guadalajara’s Center for Economic and Administrative Sciences (CUCEA), from a gender and social justice perspective. A qualitative, exploratory methodology supported by descriptive statistics was employed, combining a 57-item survey with semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with students who provide care. Findings reveal that only 13.04% of the student body performs caregiving duties, highlighting the structural exclusion of many caregivers from postgraduate programs. Moreover, all students with caregiving responsibilities are also engaged in paid work, resulting in a triple workload that negatively affects their well-being and academic participation, especially in extracurricular activities. While executive-format programs offer more flexibility, institutional support remains scarce and informal, often relying on the goodwill of faculty members. The article concludes that higher education institutions must formally recognize caregiving as a relevant factor and implement policies that guarantee equitable conditions for caregiving students. This requires institutional transformation that supports a fairer redistribution of caregiving responsibilities, aligned with the construction of a new social contract in which care is understood as a collective responsibility and an essential component of inclusive and democratic education systems.