Participation In Higher Education Research Articles

Do student loans compensate for parental resources? The role of student loans in the transition to higher education

ABSTRACT The expansion of higher education through the privatisation of funding sources raises a question regarding socioeconomic inequality in participation in higher education. To explore mechanisms of educational inequality, this study examines how different indicators of socioeconomic background work together to influence both participation in higher education and student loan uptake via a longitudinal survey of students and their mothers in Japan. The results showed that: first, parental education, household income, and savings independently affect the chance of attending a higher education institute; second, parental education and economic resources have an interaction effect in that high parental education mitigates the impact of economic resources; third, this compensation between different resources occurs by taking advantage of student loans. Students from families with lower economic resources but high parental education are more likely to be the beneficiaries of student loans.

Factors predicting participation in higher education in Malaysia

Factors predicting participation in higher education in Malaysia

Digital Factors Influencing Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Context of COVID

Education has become an important mechanism in the goal of gender equality achievement. For many decades, access to education was one of the key issues for women. These days it is an issue of not only developing countries but of developed ones as well. Women have become more active in higher education, especially in achieving master degree or PhD. This is due to that public policies are directed at the improvement of the structure of higher education. It includes promotion of human resources diversification among academic staff. This article studies the vision of women regarding higher education. What is the importance of it? This is especially carrier opportunities in higher education. It also discusses carrier opportunities for women in other fields, which has influence on women desire to continue their education. What influence does it have on private life? Higher education also covers state of selfdevelopment, personal improvement and family relationships. The study was provided under the framework of social behavior communication change, which includes four key factors of social behavior. There was conducted a semistructured interview among women. For the interview analysis, Dedoose software was used. According to the results of the study, there have been identified two main factors, which have a great Impact on women participation in higher education. These factors are cultural standard family issues. Major outcomes of higher education for women: potential realization, promotion of women rights. This determines the importance of social behavior in the development of a policy, development of laws and regulations.

Reaching out to the hard-to-reach: mixed methods reflections of a pilot Welsh STEM engagement project

Despite years of targeted interventions, young people experiencing socio-economic deprivation are still under-represented in those studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects post-16 and in higher education STEM pathways. We surveyed 61 young people who had participated in the S4 programme in South Wales, UK, and interviewed three of their teachers. Using the theoretical lens of science capital, we asked them about the S4 programme, and their views of science and education in terms of aspirations, attainment, and social obstacles. Whilst widely outdated, a ‘deficit model’ of aspiration raising still guides STEM outreach policy in Wales and we consider the answers to our survey in light of this. Broadly, our participants are enthusiastic and ambitious, and confident in their abilities in both science and wider skill areas. However, we found certain aspects of ambition were linked to socio-economic status. For example, whilst most young people we surveyed aspire to go university, those who do not cite different reasons depending on their socio-economic status. Despite high aspirations around science and education, teachers cited low literacy and numeracy, household poverty, entrenched generational unemployment, rural isolation, disabilities, caring responsibilities, and teenage pregnancy as barriers to higher education for their pupils. Importantly, S4's intervention had the greatest impact with those in the extremes of socio-economic deprivation, particularly in terms of bolstering existing science and education aspirations and increasing the ‘thinkability’ of attending university. Our findings contradict accepted thinking on science and education aspirations in that rather than participation in higher education being motivated by a lack of science and education aspiration or the discourse of family habitus ("people like us"), young people seem to be starkly aware of the very real socio-economic obstacles. We found no poverty of science and education aspiration in the participants we surveyed, and encourage a policy move away from the deficit model of raising science and education aspirations that will take a more nuanced view of widening access to STEM education and higher education in general in Wales.

The association between socioeconomic status and prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in different ethnic groups: the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting study.

Socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity are both important determinants of hypertension prevalence and control rates but their separate contribution is unknown. We assessed the association of SES with hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control, and whether this differs between ethnic groups. We used baseline data from the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study, a multiethnic population-based cohort study, including 18 106 participants (84% of the total cohort) of Dutch (n = 4262), African Surinamese (n = 3732), Moroccan (n = 2902), Turkish (n = 2694), South-Asian Surinamese (n = 2664) and Ghanaian (n = 1947) descent with data on SES and hypertension status. Regardless of ethnicity, lower SES was associated with higher hypertension prevalence, especially in participants with no education compared with those with higher levels of education [OR 2.29 (2.05-2.56)]. There was an inverse association between SES and hypertension treatment with the strongest association for lower compared with higher educated participants [OR 1.63 (1.39-1.90)]. In addition, lower SES was associated with lower hypertension control with the strongest association for participants with the lowest compared with the highest occupational level [OR 0.76 (0.60-0.95)]. The association between educational level and treatment but not the other SES- or hypertension-indicators, was influenced by ethnicity, with lower educated Dutch and African Surinamese having higher ORs for hypertensive treatment [Dutch OR 1.98 (1.43-2.76); African Surinamese OR 1.44 (1.10-1.89)]. SES, in particular education, impacts hypertension treatment in the Netherlands, whereas the association of specific SES parameters with hypertension indicators differ across ethnic groups. Further exploration is needed on how sociocultural beliefs and behaviours may differentially affect blood pressure control across ethnic minority populations.

The Impact of Economic, Social, and Political Determining Factors of the Youth Migration in Kosovo

This paper empirically investigates the propensity of youth migration in Kosovo and the impact of the determining factors. Worryingly, 59% of respondents have expressed a propensity to migrate. Their most preferred destinations are Germany, Switzerland, and North America. The economic, cultural, and security concerns appear to have a statistically significant impact on the propensity to migrate. The respondents with a propensity to migrate tend to view migration mostly as an opportunity, while those without a propensity to migrate tend to perceive it as both risk and opportunity. The results suggest that employment in the services and craftsmanship sector is the most preferred. Regrettably, only 16% of respondents have participated in a relevant formal migration program. Finally, 43.8% of respondents will return home if they solve the problems or issues for which they would migrate. Significantly, there is a noticeable inter-generational increase in gender equality, measured by the increase of female respondents’ participation in higher education.

Pedagogical Science Practices in Public Higher Education Institutions of Ethiopia: Progress Made but Challenges Remain

The contribution of education to the overall development of a nation becomes evident especially through higher education. This is because higher education is considered a key to delivering the knowledge required for ensuring sustainable development. Studies reveal a strong positive correlation between higher education participation rates and levels of development, as high levels of education are essential for designing and producing new technologies, and enhancing innovative capacities for the development of a society. While the reforms of higher education in high-income countries have received much attention, relatively little is known about the change dynamics in higher education system in developing countries. Therefore, with this research I want to contribute to a better understanding of higher education system in Africa, from the perspective of the type of pedagogy being practiced frequently and its consequences in producing competent graduates for the world of work by taking Ethiopian public higher education system as a case. To this end, data were collected from selected higher education institutions’ officials and instructors using questionnaire and interviews. The collected data were analyzed using mixed method. Findings of the study revealed that despite the offering of on-job pedagogical science trainings in the sample universities, little progress has been made in terms of applying student-centered pedagogy. Most of the instructors in the institutions still predominantly use traditional teaching methods. It is recommended that instructors in higher learning institutions should use critical pedagogy. Keywords: higher education, pedagogical science practice, progressive pedagogy, traditional pedagogy, transformative pedagogy

Broadened Possibilities: Undocumented Community College Student Course Enrollment After the California DREAM Act

Some states have enacted inclusive policies that reduce constraints and uncertainty for undocumented students, potentially changing their academic decisions and postsecondary goals. We explore shifts in continuing undocumented community college students’ course-taking before and after the California DREAM Act, which provided access to state financial aid. We use difference-in-differences comparisons with permanent residents, refugees, and U.S. citizens who were unaffected by these policies to examine policy impacts. After its implementation, continuing students increased their enrollment intensity, primarily in degree-applicable and transferable courses, and decreased coursework in career/technical education. This suggests state financial aid may have broadened postsecondary possibilities and made transfer to a 4-year institution a more viable option for undocumented students. At the same time, access to aid did not increase undocumented students’ credit loads to the level of their peers, underscoring the reality that other constraints continue to shape undocumented students’ participation in higher education.

Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year: Finalist Case Study 2021

My work involves improving the communication and accessibility of evidence-based advice on studying to help students succeed in higher education. I am a first-generation student, educated (and now teaching) in an institution where widening participation in higher education to those from non-traditional and underrepresented backgrounds is central to its ethos. I passionately believe that all students should be able to prosper in their degree studies and that the provision of engaging and accessible advice on effective studying from psychology is key to this occurring. To this end, this case study is centred around three key objectives, each with their own specific pedagogical rationales and deliverables. These are outlined in the following section.

Disruptions in higher education: Mitigating issues of access and success in the COVID-19 pandemic

Disruptions create both new opportunities and challenges in higher education. In settled times, education systems plod along with an assumed and uncritical acceptance of normalcy of the status-quo. When the status quo is disrupted, suddenly the patched-up cracks reveal the depth and magnitude of the simmering problems of the sector in graphic ways. Access and success are arguably the two most poignant indicators of the performance of higher education systems. In post-colonial societies such as South Africa, access is used to estimate progress in broadening participation in higher education, particularly to young people from previously disadvantaged communities. Access has two broad meanings: increased enrolments and enhanced epistemological impact. Success, on the other hand is measured variously but mainly through graduation and progression rates across different socio-economic higher education students groups and also on the quality of their performances. In this article we provide a theoretical discussion of the notions of disruptions and their impact in higher education; examine the questions of access and success in higher education; and conclude that the chasm lying between access by participation and access by success requires substantial transformation of a knowledge system that is alien to the cultural context of the country; rebalancing and recalibrating the broader ideological environment that privileges liberalism while paying token attention to social justice and inclusion beyond mere symbolism; and a persistent refocusing on emancipatory pedagogies, designed to liberate rather than subjugate graduates into pigeon holed choices in the labour market which are designed to serve the needs of owners of capital as the primary motive of employment. We conclude by identifying critical factors that appear to lead to a failure by universities to bridge the gap between access by participation and access by success or epistemological access. Most of these tend to be structurally embedded in the fabric of higher education institutions and the sector and include, a persistent coloniality of the sector, disjuncture between the intended ideological framework guiding national development and the operating economic models and institutional inertia to move beyond the canonical bases of higher education based on western epistemes.

The Relationship between Socioeconomic Classes and Higher Education Entry in UK

There is distinct discrimination in higher education entry for pupils from different socioeconomic classes. This study focuses on the relationship between higher education participation and students’ socioeconomic statuses in UK. It aims to investigate reasons why students from underprivileged family backgrounds have less opportunities for university entry compared with young people from better-off families. This study also aims to explore solutions to mitigate this problem, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of these mentioned solutions. Worse academic performances and low educational aspirations may explain that disadvantaged students have less opportunity to continue their university study. Using contextualized admission practices and organizing aspirations-raising activities for students from poor family backgrounds seem to narrow the entry gap. However, it is still a long way to solve this problem and different parts, including the government, universities, other educational organizations and even parents, need to work together to mitigate this university entry gap.

Leveraging Local Knowledge Exploring How to Support Regional, Rural, and Remote Students' Career Development

Australian higher education participation continues to expand, yet in unequal ways. Regional, rural, and remote (RRR) student participation is stubbornly stalled, despite sustained research and policy initiatives to support these cohorts. To address this complex issue, we interviewed 10 RRR principals in Queensland and Victoria to explore specific challenges that face RRR communities, as well as collate strategies and solutions. Our findings highlighted the importance of leveraging and developing local knowledge and expertise to equip students with careers education, as well as the need to promote a positive narrative about RRR community life. A key theme that emerged from participants was the need to dispel the myth that students needed to leave their communities to achieve their goals or find career success. The findings from this paper point to a need for educational outreach programs to continue to develop context-specific, locally informed programs and support that align with RRR communities' values and ways of life.

University Teachers’ Motivation and Challenges: A Gender Perspective on Professional Development

This article has attempted to explore motivation for female teachers in the classroom and to find out the affecting factors in the process of becoming a successful teacher in the university. This study is theoretically based on motivation theory and critical theory. The female teachers' professional challenges have persisted for many years. In this study, motivation for the female teachers and their challenges that focus on the participation of all strata of gender, race, ethnicity and other aspects are two sides of teachers’ professional identity. Therefore, motivation for female teachers in higher education is an urgent need for improving teaching and learning environment and for job security. This article includes a narrative inquiry based on an in-depth interview that includes three female teachers of the university. The thematic content analysis of this study is based on primary sources of data and theoretical observations. This study concludes that the female participation in higher education in Nepal is satisfactory, but they have not been able to improve their situation though they are capable of encouraging motivation for students to learn and face challenges in higher education.

Digital reading and gender inequality in higher education

ABSTRACT Digital text has become the dominant medium for participation in higher education. Yet little is known about the consequences from the shift to digital text usage on the academic reading practices of specific groups of students. Using a unique data set of higher education students, we analyse differences in digital reading skills, practices, perception, and experience for female students and male students. Then we explain these differences by social inequality related to gendered reading practices and artifacts and reveal that the digitisation of academic reading is reproducing gender inequality in higher education.

Supporting self-regulated language learning skills online: awareness raising approaches for computer-supported collaboration

To assist second language learners in becoming effective, aware, and reflective participants in higher education, support can be provided by integrating structured awareness raising approaches in the language curriculum. Drawing on self-regulation principles, such a structured awareness raising curriculum is most notably sustained by reflective one-to-one dialogue, also known as advising in language learning (ALL). While previous studies have shown that students who received this kind of support in face-to-face settings were able to successfully develop effective learning strategies, little research has demonstrated to what extent students can develop these strategies, supported by ALL, when learning online. This study shows how four groups of second language majors (n = 252) demonstrate knowledge and control of learning and learning strategies when discussing their planning and progress with peers online. This study draws on Google Classroom data (posts and comments: n = 957) collected over two semesters. Using digital conversation analysis and social network analysis, students were found to demonstrate (1) awareness of approaches to learning, (2) awareness of facilities, roles, and resources, and (3) awareness of self when collaborating with peers. This study shows how ALL can support students in effectively applying different learning strategies when engaged in computer-supported collaborative work.

The socio-demographic profile of Spanish adult undergraduates: university-level compensatory policies vs life-course (dis)advantages

PurposeTo uncover age inequalities in participation in higher education (HE) in Spain, the socio-demographic profile of Spanish adult undergraduates is compared to that of the general population of the same age group (25–54). Specific attention is devoted to differentials between face-to-face and distance adult students.Design/methodology/approachThe study is mainly based on a comparative analysis of quantitative data generated by an online survey conducted by the authors among students over the age of 25 enrolled in Spanish public universities. Concurrent secondary sources have been considered as well.FindingsEmployment and family obligations appear as powerful conditioners of adults' access to HE, their choice of study mode (face-to-face or distance) and their area of study. The possession of previous HE qualifications also appears as an important factor differentiating adult undergraduates from the general population.Research limitations/implicationsThe online survey is intended to reveal the main socio-demographic barriers to adult access to HE in Spain, rather than to draw a statistically representative profile of the target universe. The standard methodological recommendations have been followed to control the expected low response rate for the online questionnaire.Practical implicationsThe study points to the need to deeply articulate current university-level compensatory mechanisms with macro-level age-sensitive social policies.Social implicationsLife course policies aimed at reducing age educational inequalities are advanced.Originality/valueThe social conditioners of adult participation in HE are addressed through a conceptual framework combining the life-course perspective with the prevalent research approach, centred on the notions of lifelong learning and non-traditional learners' unequal access.

Women’s participation and challenges to the liberal script: A global perspective

Existing scholarship documents large worldwide increases in women’s participation in the public sphere over recent decades, for example, in education, politics, and the labor force. Some scholars have argued that these changes follow broader trends in world society, especially its growing liberalism, which increasingly has reconfigured social life around the choices of empowered and rights-bearing individuals, regardless of gender. Very recently, however, a variety of populisms and nationalisms have emerged to present alternatives to liberalism, including in the international arena. We explore here their implications for women’s participation in public life. We use cross-national data to analyze changes in women’s participation in higher education, the polity, and the economy 1970–2017. We find that women’s participation on average continues to expand over this period, but there is evidence of a growing cross-national divergence. In most domains, women’s participation tends to be lower in countries linked to illiberal international organizations, especially in the recent-most period.

Teachers’ perspectives on the delivery of transitional outreach activities and their potential to raise secondary school students’ Higher Education aspirations during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The role secondary schools play in raising student aspirations for, and encouraging progression into, Higher Education through supported outreach is important but often overlooked by both colleges and universities alike. This article reports on our work within Uni Connect’s ‘Raising Higher Education Aspirations’ programme in Lincolnshire which delivers targeted university-inspiring transitional outreach activities to Year 9–13 students from disadvantaged backgrounds with low levels of social and cultural capital, little or no familial habitus of Higher Education and where Higher Education participation is lower than expected. Specifically, this article considers university-inspiring transitional outreach from the perspective of six secondary school Uni Connect programme leads. Semi-structured interviews conducted with school leads over a 12-month period between October 2019 and November 2020 provided a unique insight into the successes and challenges schools face in delivering aspirational Higher Education outreach. In particular, the study found that the Uni Connect programme was beginning to have a positive effect on students, with some school leads reporting a cultural shift amongst students in their attitudes towards Higher Education. Students were reported to be more open to the possibility of going to university, more willing to explore the different pathways available to them and more prepared to take part in next steps conversations. Key to the programmes’ success was the relationship between school leads and the local partnership responsible for delivering the programme. However, continued and timely delivery of outreach, especially to Year 10 and 11 students, was viewed as the biggest challenge during the ongoing Covid-19 climate.

Dietary supplements consumption and its association with socioeconomic factors, obesity and main non-communicable chronic diseases in the north of Iran: the PERSIAN Guilan Cohort Study (PGCS)

BackgroundDietary supplements (DSs) use have become a growing trend worldwide, and it may be affected by demographic and sociocultural factors. Some people use supplements with the thought that they can improve their health, reduce symptoms and prevent disease. The aim of the present study was to define the frequency of DS use and its association with socioeconomic factors among participants with selected main non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) (diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension (HTN), cancers, and obesity in the north of Iran.MethodsThis large cross-sectional study was conducted as a part of the PERSIAN Guilan cohort study. Supplement use during last year and its type, demographic factors, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits were asked by face-to-face interview. The history of chronic disease was defined by a trained team. Data were analyzed using SPSS. The chance of supplement use according to demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle variables and history of chronic disease was analyzed by logistic regression.Results10,520 men and women aged 35–70 years in Some’e Sara County (including urban regions and 39 villages) were studied. About 25% of participants consumed DSs. The highest consumption of DS was calcium/vitamin D (11.1%), ferrous sulfate (8.8%), and vitamin D pearl or ampoule (7.7%). The highest percent of the history of chronic disease was central obesity (62.7%), HTN (43.2%), and general obesity (32.7), respectively. After adjustment for confounders, those with female gender, the highest age ranges (55–65 and > 65 years), high academic education, living in urban regions, and good economic status were more likely to be DSs consumers; however, married and smoker subjects were more likely to consume DS. Participants who had a history of diabetes, HTN, CVD, Obesity, and Central Obesity were more likely to intake DS in comparison with healthy subjects.ConclusionThis study showed that a quarter of the participants were DS users. Female sex, older age groups, and higher educated participants, and among chronic disease, patients with HTN, CVD, and diabetes were more likely to be users of any DS.

Does Regionality Influence Students' Perceived Employability and Career Orientation? A Study of Students at an Australian University

Insufficient access to specialised career development within many rural, regional and remote (RRR) areas contributes to persistent differences in the higher education participation rates of young people from these areas. This paper reports on research conducted with 4,993 students at a university in Western Australia who self-assessed their perceived employability (career capabilities) and career orientation. Data were analysed by year and mode of study, location, gender and discipline. Comparisons were made between RRR students and their metropolitan peers. The findings compare perceptions of employability and career orientation among RRR students in comparison with domestic metropolitan students. This shows a level of commonality between the two groups, with lessons from research on RRR students being applicable to metropolitan students.