With this paper, the author has a great objective: to reflect about the implications that non-traditional adult students' growing presence may bring to Higher Education (HE) institutions. This reflection is even more important to be considered since many countries are starting to deal with an increasing number of non-traditional adult students' entering for the first time in HE, namely at undergraduate level. This is the case of Portugal. Consequently, this fact is raising several questions,

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... ticularly in what concerns the demands and roles that HE institutions need to assume when facing diversity and heterogeneity. The author intends to do a theoretical approach to this issue.