Articulating Meaning: Reflexivity, Mediation and Self-Presentation in Private Higher Education

This research focuses on meaning-making discourses developed by Master’s 2 students within private higher education institutions. Based on a qualitative approach grounded in semi-structured interviews and reflexive fieldwork, the study analyses how university communication devices contribute to the production and narration of student trajectories. The findings highlight a strong capacity among students to articulate their aspirations, doubts and professional projects. Far from being the spontaneous expression of individual interiority, these discourses also appear as the product of institutional frameworks that encourage reflexivity and self-presentation. Drawing on the works of Erving Goffman, Pascal Lardellier and Hartmut Rosa, the article shows how pedagogical interactions, academic rituals and support mechanisms contribute to the construction of meaning in student trajectories. This reflection leads to questioning the limits of institutionalised reflexivity and to emphasising the importance of the mediation of interactions and relational resonance in renewing social ties within higher education.