Access in Higher Education

Autor(en)

Sir Peter Scott, Manja Klemencic, Liz Thomas, Georg Winckler, Hanne Smidt

Preis

19,99 € (111 Seiten, PDF)

Inhalt

• Access in Higher Education in Europe and North America: Trends and Developments

  Sir Peter Scott

  The rapid extension of student numbers has been the key phenomenon in the development of mass higher education systems in both Europe and North America. This expansion has substantially widened the social base of these systems in terms of gender and ethnicity, although less so in terms of social class. However, expansion alone has not been the only strategy pursued to widen access to higher education. Affirmative action and more targeted widening participation policies have also been employed. Three scenarios for the future of access are now possible – much slower growth rates leading to ‘steady state’ systems; continuing expansion at similar rates to the past; and the transformation of existing higher education systems into more open and inclusive lifelong learning systems.

• Socially Inclusive Higher Education

  Mainstreaming Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning in Higher Education Institutions to Facilitate the Access and Success of a Diverse Student Population

  Liz Thomas

  This article focuses on embedding and mainstreaming widening participation (WP) and lifelong learning (LLL) in universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) to create more socially inclusive higher education. It therefore addresses the social dimension of the Bologna process. The paper develops the notion of institutional transformation to mainstreaming WP and LLL to facilitate the access and success of students from diverse, under-represented and excluded groups. In particular, it considers what institutions need to do to mainstream WP and LLL, and applies this framework to assess how well English institutions are mainstreaming WP and LLL. This is based on an analysis of the Widening Participation Strategic Assessments (WPSAs) submitted by all 129 English HEIs in June 2009 (HEFCE 2009). Some European illustrative examples of institutional responses to mainstreaming WP and LLL are also presented. The article concludes with recommendations for institutions.

• Widening participation: A Collective Challenge for European Higher Education

  Georg Winckler

  This article is an edited version of the response made by the author to the French Prime Minister at a seminar in Paris in December 2007 on the challenges facing European higher education. Within a context of economic and demographic change, the article focuses on the challenges faced by European universities and governments in increasing participation rates and opening to a greater diversity of learners. It also announces the development of a Lifelong Learning Charter for Europe’s universities, to be launched in autumn 2008.

• Do European Universities Have a Concept of Lifelong Learning?

  Hanne Smidt

  Despite the early ambitions at the start of the millennium to regard all formal, non-formal and informal education within the concept of learning throughout the life of an individual, and the implementation of the three-cycle degree structures with the concept of student-centred learning, along with the necessary supporting tools, few countries in Europe have managed to promote a concept for all citizens of the importance and availability of lifelong learning. This article explores the reasons for the sporadic implementation and the limited understanding of the concept in European universities to date, and point to the possibilities of creating a coherent discourse.