This article first draws together a range of published statistics to analyse trends in participation in higher education in the UK over recent years. That provides evidence of the shifting profile in the student population and sets a context for examining emerging evidence of the impact of recent government policy decisions on control of student…

Extant between 2004 and 2011, Aimhigher was the UK government's flagship national initiative for widening participation to higher education for young people from disadvantaged social groups, with costs approaching 1 billion British Pounds. Its demise was predicated on a perceived lack of progress and the absence of compelling evaluative research.…

Hungary's higher education system has been going through a gradual shift from an elite to a mass system: enrolment has surged in recent decades. There is growing pressure on financing, with rising costs, limited public funding and an increasing student population. In parallel, there is a growing recognition that an important part of the benefits…

In this article, the author uses the occasion of the centennial of University Extension at Harvard to document how this unique educational institution came into being and why it became associated with Harvard University. He traces the prominent role played by the Lowell family in establishing the Lowell Institute of Boston in the late 1830s and…

Uses university-based fictions or campus novels from the past 200 years to explore England's continuing concern about the exclusiveness of Oxford and Cambridge. Describes a development from portrayals of the poor student as illuminator of the inadequacies of Oxford or Cambridge, to modern comic novels where the poorer student acts as a destructive…

Discussion of the role of increasing flexibility in higher education systems notes both positive effects (such as improved equity, access, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness) but focuses on possible negative administrative, pedagogic, economic, and philosophical developments. Institutions are urged to embrace the benefits of modern technology…

The Canadian Opportunities Strategy, the portion of the Canadian minister of finance's 1998 budget speech devoted to the government's plan for a "knowledge society," is analyzed. The budgetary context in which the strategy was outlined is reviewed, and the strategy itself of the government's investment plan for research and improved access to…

Mega-universities (involved in distance teaching) such as Britain's Open University are open to people, places, methods, and ideas. They succeed because of well-designed multimedia materials, personal academic support for learners, efficient logistics, and faculty who conduct research. (SK)

Argues for the comprehensive revision of funding relationships and mechanisms in British higher education, based on the principle of entitlement to lifetime learning. Outlines and discusses the concept of a Learning Bank to manage funding equitably, create a credit-based system of learning, provide flexibility through individual "learning…

Attempts to attain academic respectability for continuing higher education hinged on two arguments. The campus equivalence approach asserted that extension programs had equivalent rigor to campus programs. The adult learning approach argued that different qualities of adult students necessitated different criteria and goals reflecting adult…

Categories to quantify demand include the relevant age group, the staying-on rate, the qualification rate, and the take-up or willingness rate. These are examined for the time span of 1969-70 to 1975-76. It is suggested that more sensitivity is needed to allow demand to make itself felt. (MLW)

The importance of the location of British polytechnic institutes in students' choice is examined along with details of the catchment areas of one polytechnic, North East London and the extent to which this is affected by its multi-site nature. The idea and implications of a hinterland for that institution are discussed. (Author/LBH)

This response to criticisms of open admissions programs in U.S. postsecondary education addresses the following issues: that there are not enough jobs for graduates; that enrollments will decline anyway; and that expanding access to education is a myth that promises social mobility but only maintains social inequalities. (JMD)

The unsatisfactory position of some British local education authorities concerning their responsibilities for college student distribution and placement and their relationship with the National Advisory Body that manages manpower training policy is discussed. (MSE)

At a time when Britain's direct political routes to the creation of a more egalitarian society are closed, the opening of higher education to systematically disadvantaged groups is a significant contribution by laying the foundation for future attempts to build that society. (MSE)