This article examines the policy framework and national structures that have shaped the development of higher education in Scotland's Colleges. It is suggested that these have helped create a higher education tradition that is in significant ways different from that which exists in the further education sector in England. The emphasis on…

Widening access to higher education (HE) has been an important policy objective in Scotland over the last twenty years. While there is evidence that high levels of participation have been achieved, and some evidence of reduction in inequalities in participation rates among young people entering higher education, there is also evidence of…