Keeping Going in Austere Times: The Declining Spaces for Adult Widening Participation in Higher Education in England

Abstract

This chapter examines the declining spaces for adult widening participation in higher education in England. An analysis is undertaken of higher education policy documents, national data on higher education enrolments in English universities, institutional enrolment data and data gathered from interviews with mature, low income students studying at two English universities. We argue that part-time and mature learners have become largely invisible in higher education policy in England, both at the national and institutional level, and that this is problematic from a social justice perspective.