European education: will the UK join?

This paper explores the links between socio‐economic disadvantage, non‐completion in higher education and preparation initiatives. It does this through investigating the effectiveness of the Top‐Up Programme, a preparation course for 17 and 18 year olds from schools that have low participation rates in higher education. The University of Glasgow, on behalf of the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum, has responsibility for running the Top‐Up Programme. It is part of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and local education authority funded GOALS (Greater Opportunity of Access and Learning with Schools) Project. The paper examines the hypothesis that students who undertake programmes such as the Top‐Up Programme can counteract the effects of disadvantage through being prepared academically. The investigation is undertaken within the contexts of widening access research and theoretical models of student non‐completion. This study reviewed the available data for the 44 schools involved in the Top‐Up Programme, their levels of disadvantage as defined by their participation rates in higher education, and levels of non‐completion at the University of Glasgow. This revealed that groupings of schools with extremely low participation levels have higher non‐completion rates than less disadvantaged schools. At the same time, the authors attempted to investigate this finding further through examining a group of 44 similar comparative schools. The students' perceptions of the effectiveness, in terms of preparation for higher education, of undertaking the Top‐Up Programme were also assessed by conducting interviews and administering questionnaires to the Top‐Up students and other groups of students. The Top‐Up students perceived that it had provided highly relevant preparation and had eased the transition from school to higher education. The effectiveness of the Top‐Up Programme was also quantified by reviewing the pass/fail rates of the first‐year students who had undertaken Top‐Up in comparison to those who had come from the comparative groups. The results indicated that the Top‐Up students were progressing at better rates than the other groups despite many more having come from the extremely low participation schools, known to be ‘at risk’. The main outcome determined was that there is a link between attending an extremely low participation rate school and non‐completion, despite similar pre‐entry qualifications to other students. This indicates that disadvantage continues to impact on students' achievements throughout their educational careers. We argue that the result has implications for both wider access policies and non‐completion research.

Introduction This article seeks to present and illuminate empirically a model of policymaking in an area of emerging, if little appreciated, importance, namely, state policies affecting private (nonprofit) higher education. Further, it shows the interesting implications of this model and the associated empirical results for policy in this area now as many states enter an era of sharply increased demand for higher education but limited resources to pay for new capacity [65, 67]. The basic idea is that state policy postures toward private higher education can tend toward one of three nodes: * laissez-faire, in which state policies largely ignore the private sector; * central planning, in which state policies involve the private sector substantially, use private institutions to play carefully planned and enforced roles in the state system and pay for this involvement financially via such means as direct subventions to private institutions and aid to their students; * market-competitive, in which state policies also seek to take account of and utilize the private collegiate sector, but in which the state plays much less of a planning, allocative, and regulatory role than under central planning and instead employs market forces and signals (e.g., portable student aid grants, lower subsidies built into public institution tuitions, information policies) to guide allocation of programs, students, and resources. The analysis matches individual states' policies empirically to these constructs (or in some cases to hybrids of them) and then considers how well each policy set fits the circumstances of the states that employ it. The key broad conclusion of the empirical analysis is that the market-competitive constellation of policies is associated with the most attractive combination of policy outcomes: high participation rates in higher education, reasonable quality in public higher education, and a healthy private sector providing choice to students, all at only average levels of taxpayer spending (per capita) on higher education and well below-average levels of taxation overall. Assuming these associations are some guide to the future, then the market-competitive states seem to be well positioned to face the emerging era of rapid growth in demand for higher education that many states will encounter without depending solely on costly expansion of public colleges and universities. This conclusion squares with the common-sense idea that it should be cheaper to meet some part of large new enrollment capacity requirements by directing some students toward private higher education (even at some financial cost to the state) than to meet all the demand by expanding space in the public sector. The laissez-faire states, in contrast, though they also include a number of states that face rapid growth in demand for higher education, appear to be poorly positioned by virtue of their policy histories and current policies to cope with such a period of growth cost-effectively. These states have generally experienced rapid population growth in recent years but only slow growth in their private higher education enrollments (which tend to be relatively small, though in most cases not insignificant). Their spending on public higher education per student (a crude indicator of quality) and their overall participation rates in higher education tend to be near the national average, but it seems unlikely that these performances can be sustained in the face of strong demand growth, for this is both the poorest group of states and the one already making on average the highest overall effort. Yet these states also spend well above average per capita on higher education. Thus, the analysis suggests that these states need to rethink their higher education policies, particularly those affecting the private sector, if they are to cope effectively in the new era of increased demands and tightly constrained state tax revenues. …

In this article, detailed data are presented to indicate the growing participation rates in higher education in seven countries – France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the USA. The author argues that participation rates in higher education will continue to increase and that, while such growth will not be unconstrained and indefinite, it will continue for the forseeable future and therefore must be reckoned with in the development of higher education policies. The notion that higher education can increasingly be funded from private sources is challenged on the basis that private funding is very largely geared to research and service activities, which generate the funds, rather than to teaching. The trend curves that are presented here, showing increasing participation and an increase in private funding, are therefore ‘dangerous’, in that the ‘education’ component of higher education is threatened with erosion.

SummaryThe paper makes use of newly linked administrative education data from England to understand better the determinants of participation in higher education (HE) among individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds. The data are unique in being able to follow the population of two cohorts of pupils in England—those who might have entered HE between 2004–2005 and 2006–2007—from age 11 to age 20 years. The findings suggest that, although large differences in HE participation rates and participation rates at high status universities by socio-economic background remain, these differences are substantially reduced once prior achievement is included. Moreover, these findings hold for both state and private school pupils. This result suggests that poor achievement in secondary schools is more important in explaining lower HE participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry to HE. These findings are consistent with the need for earlier policy intervention to raise HE participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Indigenous Australians are underrepresented and considerably disadvantaged within the Australian system of higher education. The various measures taken by Australian universities over the past decades have produced varying levels of success in increasing Indigenous participation and completion rates. In order to continue improving Indigenous Australian participation in higher education, it is important to understand the current patterns of participation and factors within universities that are associated with participation and success. In this article we analyse higher education student and staff statistics available from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and information sourced from the web sites of 40 Australian universities to examine correlations between various Indigenous student support mechanisms and Indigenous students' higher education participation rates. Our results indicate that there is a dual system of Indigenous higher education, with one group of universities excelling at attracting Indigenous students, and a different group of universities demonstrating high Indigenous student completion rates. We argue that challenges remain in determining how to increase commencements at universities with high Indigenous completion rates without compromising entrance requirements or further diluting the level of student support, and how to increase completion rates at universities with higher numbers of Indigenous students.

The increasing participation rate in higher education has raised its own issues, such as how to fund the growth while retaining the quality of education. In Finland, it has been argued that the tuition-free higher education policy increases equality. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, establishing a system of tuition fees supported by an income-contingent loan system for students has also been argued to increase equality. In Australia, students also face high tuition fees for higher education, as well as a support system focused on domestic students. In addition to tuition fees, entrance examinations also play a crucial part in higher education systems. In order to examine inequalities in higher education from the students’ point of view, tuition fees are scrutinised in connection with equality, and entrance examinations in relation to cultural reproduction. Comparing examples of higher music education institutions in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Australia shows that there are large differences between the tuition fees charged for domestic and international students, as well as between countries. Entrance examinations in higher music education are similar in these countries, but may include inequalities based on long traditions in the field of music, especially in classical music. By revealing misconceptions about equity in higher education, it is possible to have a critical debate about the role of tuition fee systems as they are connected with the economics of higher education, and about entrance examinations as reproducing social class inequalities. This discussion may contribute to the redefinition and reformation of more equitable and just education systems, and promote equality in general in society.

Countries around the world have witnessed educational expansion at all levels. UK participation rates in Higher Education in the UK continue to increase with The Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) an estimate of the likelihood of a young person participating in Higher Education by the age of 30 reaching 49.8 % in 2016/17. Despite almost half of young people in the UK today expected to access Higher Education barriers identified 70 years ago including gender, financial resource, limited curriculum, race and ethnic background still present a significant challenge. This paper focuses on socio-economic factors, their negative impact on university entry, and presents initial findings from an initiative aimed at overcoming these issues. Scottish Government policy states that by 2030, twenty percent of students entering university should come from Scotland’s 20 percent most deprived areas. Engineering education faces a significant challenge in meeting these targets with entry typically requiring top grades in mathematics and physics. Attainment and the number of pupils studying subjects is well below average in low progression schools (schools with below a given percentage of pupils progressing to further and higher education). As a result those in the most deprived 20% of Scotland areas Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD 20) are currently under-represented in Engineering Higher Education. A number of existing approaches to addressing the problem have been implemented with some success. These include outreach projects with low progression schools to build relationships through workshops and mentoring, encouraging awareness, confidence and personal development. Other solutions include programmes that offer direct entry through formal partnerships with further education colleges. Additionally, many Universities make ‘contextual offers’ dependant on applicant postcode lower entry requirements for those living in the most deprived areas. Whilst these approaches are useful in raising applications and university entry from SIMD 20 areas there are some challenges. Certain students who enter university through these programmes can struggle with self confidence in comparison to high UCAS point scoring class mates entering university by ‘traditional’ pathways. Others can find it difficult to cope with classes involving mathematics, physics and their application such as mechanics, thermodynamics and electrical concepts etc. This paper will describe a pilot initiative in which engineering students from diverse disciplines are supporting pupils in low progression schools to raise their attainment before entering university. This pilot initiative partners four low progression schools located in inner city Glasgow with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Second to fifth year engineering students have been ‘paired’ with school pupils sitting SQA examinations in late Spring 2019. They meet once a week during school term time to provide mentoring and one-to-one tuition in maths and physics. Raising attainment to enable university entry and providing a firm foundation for university engineering study. Early findings from the pilot will be reported including lessons learnt which will be useful for other Higher Education establishments wishing to implement similar schemes.

Purpose Global issues related to Inclusive Education in higher education cover various aspects, including accessibility, financial support and policy gaps. Data from UNESCO shows that about 15% of the world’s population has a disability, but in many countries, their participation rate in higher education is still very low. The urgent need to establish a genuinely accessible and inclusive higher education environment for all high education, including those with impairments. This study aims to identify building inclusive education in higher education: a systematic literature review of strategic approaches, technology, management and learning outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This study followed PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews. The strings are based on the paper title’s keywords, emphasizing instructor performance and competency. Higher education requires strategic methods, technology integration, effective management and better learning results. Findings This study concludes that 1) ensure that every student has non-discriminatory, equal access to resources and learning opportunities. 2) implementation policies to support accessibility support for students with disabilities, 3) a framework for designing learning tasks and activities, 4) an integrated approach to interdisciplinarity in education for sustainable development, 5) emerging trends in research on inclusive virtual education, 6) provide insights and strategies to foster diversity and inclusion in higher education and 7) the role of virtual assistive technology in inclusive higher education. Originality/value This study concluded that inclusive policies, technology and management practices can improve education for all students, including impairments, assistive technology helps learning-disabled pupils compete.

This rapid evidence review examines women's participation rates in Higher Education (HE) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across the Middle East North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia regions, alongside socio-economic development indicators. It highlights link between gender equality and sustainable development, stressing the need for equal access to education, economic resources, and political participation for women. Drawing on UNESCO and UNDP data, the review outlines global commitments and provides country-level data, categorised by income groups.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of the market mechanism on the structural changes in the British higher education system, focusing on the differentiation of positions and functions between Pre-1992Universities and Former Polytechnic Universities.From the late 1980s there was a rapid expansion of higher education in Britain.Age participation rates in higher education approximately doubled during a period of less than ten years.This expansion meant a structural change from an elite into a mass system.In this “massification” process, the British government transformed its higher education system into a unitary system from a binary one under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. In this Act, many of the public sector higher education institutions (mainly Polytechnics) were given university status. As a result of these reforms, about half of the universities we see today were upgraded from Polytechnics after 1992. Today, the unified university sector is comprised of institutions that originally had different histories and missions.

Equality of opportunity in higher education participation is a basic right of people in a society that leads to their social mobility in the long run. Benadusi (2002) endorsed Bourdieu’s explanations that cultural capital acts as an empowering force that predetermines equality/inequality of educational opportunity of people in a society. The study, thus, aimed to explore cultural capital as means of participation in higher education and eventually social mobility of women. A cross sectional survey was used to collect data from 103 working and 97 non-working women using purposive and convenience sampling. The study found positive relation of cultural capital of women with their participation in higher education and social mobility. Significant difference was also found between cultural capitals of working and non- working women, where cultural capital of working women was high as compared to non-working. The study therefore, concludes that education for women must be the core value of our society to enhance their cultural capital as well as social mobility in a society. Because higher is the cultural capital of women; higher would be their participation rate in higher education and social mobility for them.

Participation rates in higher education for British South Asian Muslim women are steadily increasing. The aim of this article, therefore, is to explore motivations and influences for entering higher education and to consider how these may contribute to current discourses surrounding Muslim women in Britain. The possible impact higher education may have on their future relationships and lifestyle choices is also briefly considered. Various notions of 'agency' have been expressed that are characteristic of the ongoing complex assessments made by these women in relation to both perceived familial obligations and their own aspirations. Their articulations suggest that higher education is increasingly viewed as a necessary asset in maintaining and gaining social prestige. This preliminary research indicates that young South Asian Muslim women are continually negotiating and renegotiating their cultural, religious and personal identities and that these processes operate in complex and sometimes contradictory ways.

Most secondary education in England is comprehensive. However, a small minority of grammar schools have retained attainment-based selection. Since students in these schools achieve high grades, some commentators and policy makers believe that England’s grammar schools are more effective than its comprehensive schools, and suggest their expansion. This study evaluates whether attending grammar schools is associated with long-term academic benefits at the post-18 stage. It does so by comparing Higher Education (HE) participation rates in grammar schools with those of comprehensive schools in non-selective areas. The evidence reveals that the assumed HE participation benefits of attending academically selective schools are mixed. Acknowledging the limitations of regression models controlling for pre-existing differences between schools, this study reveals the sensitivity of the estimation results, and the challenge of choosing appropriate baseline variables. Thus, this study calls for more thorough understandings of the mechanism of school effectiveness, and stronger research designs for evaluation.

This article reviews the literature on the experiences of working‐class students at different stages of the student life cycle. It examines the factors influencing their participation rates in higher education (HE), their ability to adapt to university life, and their success in the graduate labour market. The article argues that without radical policies that fundamentally change the relationship between social class and pre‐HE qualifications, significant progress in widening participation is unlikely.

This chapter compares the federal higher education student financing systems of three countries: Brazil, the United States, and Australia. It poses the question whether recent reforms to the Brazilian system have moved it toward the system used by the United States or Australia and considers what Brazilian policymakers can learn from these systems. This is a relevant debate for at least three reasons. First, the Australian and the U.S. systems represent very different and influential approaches in higher education student financing. Second, the Brazilian system presents both similarities and differences to the other two, raising important questions about the efficiency and sustainability of federal student aid systems. Third, Brazil is a large developing country with rising, but still low, participation rates in higher education, so the success or failure of this country’s ongoing institutional changes may influence future reforms in other countries facing similar problems in terms of higher education student financing. Depending on how reforms in Brazil evolve, the country’s system may become: (1) the first large system based on income contingent loans (ICLs) in the developing world; (2) a complex system of grants and loans; (3) a mixed model with features from both the Australian and U.S. systems.