A governance model is developed in which university governance is shared between the academic and governing bodies and is coordinated by the university executive. Viewing the university as a professional service organisation, and noting the importance of developing a flexible culture within a shifting, marketised external environment, it is argued…

This article summarises previous academic research into university education, distinguishing between arguments for and against improving access. Several views are summarised, including structural-functionalism, which claims that powerful social groups maintain their status and income, and human capital theory, which focuses on employee…

This paper reviews the potential impact of pre-entry widening access interventions on student retention and success in higher education. It thus addresses two contemporary policy concerns: What is the impact of pre-entry widening access interventions; and how can we improve student retention and success? A review of academic and practitioner…

Participation rates in higher education are an important indicator to pursue one of the main European policy objectives, which is to increase the proportion of population attending higher education. A model used to detect the determinants of participation rates is proposed in this paper, and it is empirically tested for 14 European countries…

There have been significant increases in the number of universities and student enrollments in the last fifteen years in Ethiopia. The numerical gains have brought about improved access to higher education for students. The expansion has also diversified fields of study and opened opportunities to pursue higher degrees to a significant number of…

Notwithstanding the expansion of higher education across the OECD, there continues to be concern about the levels of participation amongst those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In response to this, a new form of financial support for students from low-income families, the "opportunity bursary", was introduced for a limited period in England from…

A comparative analysis of how access and equity are defined and how policies have evolved reveals a number of commonalities and differences between countries. The overall trend is a movement from the priority given to "inherited merit" in the admission process through a commitment to formal equality, towards the application of some modes of…

Higher education participation in Ethiopia is very low (about 1.5 per cent) and is the major source of the critical shortage of educated and skilled human resource. The higher education system in Ethiopia is moving away from exclusive and dismally low enrolments towards increasing participation. To expand access, to redress inequitable subsidies…

This paper uses data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study to analyse changes over time in gender and social class inequalities in the opportunities of young people to participate in higher education (HE) in Scotland, England and Wales. The results show that in Great Britain, in the period from the…

Making use of Grisay's typology of educational equality, the paper analyses rhetoric and policy on equality in higher education (HE) in Spain and the UK in the period 1996-2004, using electoral manifestos, policy papers, legislation and academic literature. We find that in both countries, and in spite of similar pressures and levels of access to…

This paper summarises some of the key characteristics of access to and participation in higher education. In particular, it focuses on the key social characteristics of participation and the interaction with migration to study outside Northern Ireland. Key policy areas relating to student finance and widening access are also considered. The paper…

Across the British Isles there are common forces encouraging an expansion of higher education (HE) while constraining the ability and willingness of governments to finance it. We examine the nature of these forces and conclude that together they are likely to lead over time to the general taxpayer funding a declining share of HE costs. While there…

Ireland has experienced substantial increases in participation in higher education in recent years. This paper examines whether or not increased admission rates between the mid-1990s and 2000s led to a reduction in social class inequality in access to higher education. We draw on two data sets, one, a dedicated survey of new entrants to higher…

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…

In 2004 the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science set a concrete target: by 2010, close to 50% of the age cohort should participate in higher education, following the targets set in the UK and Sweden. However clear the target is set, the ways to achieve it are far less specified. In the article a number of possible instruments to…