Widening Participation in Higher Education Casting the Net Wide?

by Hinton-smith, Tamsin

• ISBN13: 9780230300613
• ISBN10: 0230300618
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-12-11
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Widening Participation in Higher Education: Casting the Net Wide? offers an authoritative up-to-date commentary on the challenges facing higher education today, through the perspectives of experts representing universities across the UK, Europe, Africa and the USA. Contributors draw on recent empirical research as well as analysis of historical developments and emerging policy to provide an understanding of these issues of widening participation to educational practitioners, policy makers and academics alike. Up-to-date insights chart the impact of global economic trends and recent policy developments for students, academics, providers and changing course provision. Contributions from emerging and established experts address a broad range of relevant issues, from the question of grade inflation through to the effectiveness of peer outreach programmes. The book provides insight into how the effects of trends including marketization and globalization will continue to impact pivotally on the extent to which higher education is able to act as a force for social equalization or exclusion of opportunities.

Author Biography

TAMSIN HINTON-SMITH is Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology, University of Sussex, UK. Her publications include Lone Parents Experiences as Higher Education Students: Learning to Juggle.

Table of Contents

List of Tables, Charts and Figures
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
PART I: INCLUSION, EXCLUSION: ISSUES IN WIDENING PARTICIPATION
Introduction: Widening Participation in Contemporary Context; T.Hinton-Smith
Changing Policy Discourses on Equity and Diversity in UK Higher Education: What is the Evidence?; M.David
Widening Participation in Universities in England and Wales: Is There a Connection with Honours Degree Achievement?; M.Yorke
Wider Still and Wider? A Historical Look at the 'Open-ness' of the Open University of the United Kingdom; A.Woodley
PART II: ENGAGING WITH HIGHER EDUCATION AS A NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENT: ACCESS AND MOTIVATION
Good Students, Bad Pupils: Constructions of 'Aspiration', 'Disadvantage' and Social Class in Undergraduate-led Widening Participation Work; Y.Taylor
Mature Women Students, Study Motivation and Employability; R.Woodfield
Lone Parent Students' Motivations for and Hopes of Higher Education Engagement; T.Hinton-Smith
PART III: NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
'Choosing a Student Lifestyle?' Questions of Taste, Cultural Capital and Gaining a Graduate Job; M.Stuart, C.Lido & J.Morgan
Transformation or Trauma: The Transition to Higher Education of Non-traditional Students; P.Frame, L.Measor & P.Wilcox
Non-traditional Adult Students: Access, Drop-out, Retention and Developing a Learner Identity; B.Merrill
The Importance of Social Support Structures for Retention and Success; J.Field & N.Morgan-Klein
PART IV: WIDENING PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS
Widening Participation Trends in Sweden: Regulations and their Effects, Intended and Unintended; C.Berggren & C.Cliffordson
Trends in Widening Participation in French Higher Education; M.Moreau
Widening Participation in Spanish Higher Education: Will the Current Reform Promote the Inclusion of Non-traditional Students?'; M.Padilla-Carmona
Experiencing Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: The Symbolic Power of Being a Student; L.Morley
Women and Students of Colour as Non-traditional Students: The Difficulties of Inclusion in the United States; A.MacLachlan
Widening Participation and 'Elite' Online Education: The case of the University of California; S.Earl-Novell
Conclusion: Assessing Progress and Priorities in Widening Participation; T.Hinton-Smith
Index