Abstract
Successfully supporting wider participation in higher education requires a coherent blend of administrative, social and academic support. Access is a necessary but insufficient element of equitable participation. This is a vital distinction given the outcomes of the Bradley Report and the expectation that higher education institutions will significantly increase the enrolment and participation of equity target groups. Our project, MAPs to Success, was designed to achieve the best possible outcomes for underprepared mature age students who have been granted alternative entry to the University of Western Australia through the Mature age Access Pathway (MAP). This alternative entry pathway was first offered in July 2008. In late 2009 we secured a Learning Teaching Performance Fund Grant to provide support for the original and subsequent cohorts. This paper outlines the theoretical perspectives underpinning this project's social and academic components, and evaluates the impact this project has achieved after its first year of operation.
Highlights
Since the landmark report A Fair Chance for All (Department of Education, Employment and Training [DEET], 1990) was released in February 1990, there has been increasingly sophisticated analyses of effective policies to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in higher education (Atweh & Bland, 2007; Gale & Tranter, 2011; James, Baldwin, Coates, Krause, & McInnis, 2004)
This was timely, given that in mid-2008, the university initiated a non-traditional pathway—the Mature age Access Pathway (MAP)—that would allow students with no formal entry requirements the opportunity to qualify for entry through the process of studying in one of a restricted selection of degree courses and passing four undergraduate units
This paper examines what Student Support Services and Admissions staff have learned from the MAPs to Success Project at the end of its first year
Summary
Since the landmark report A Fair Chance for All (Department of Education, Employment and Training [DEET], 1990) was released in February 1990, there has been increasingly sophisticated analyses of effective policies to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in higher education (Atweh & Bland, 2007; Gale & Tranter, 2011; James, Baldwin, Coates, Krause, & McInnis, 2004). In broad brush terms, mature-age students have been found to have several key advantages (McKenzie & Gow, 2004), they face unique and specific challenges, when entering a Group of Eight University such as UWA Most of these challenges are exacerbated when entrants are underprepared for university studies by any previous education experience, come from low socio-economic status (LSES) backgrounds (Tones, Fraser, Elder, & White, 2009) or are a person with a disability (Aird, Miller, van Megen, & Buys, 2010). Skene et al (2009) investigated the barriers faced by the mature age students enrolled in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UWA This was timely, given that in mid-2008, the university initiated a non-traditional pathway—the Mature age Access Pathway (MAP)—that would allow students with no formal entry requirements the opportunity to qualify for entry through the process of studying in one of a restricted selection of degree courses and passing four undergraduate units. This paper examines what Student Support Services and Admissions staff have learned from the MAPs to Success Project at the end of its first year
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