The argument of this paper is that--within a wide range of university responses to the challenge of outreach--there grew up in the extra-mural or adult education departments of many UK universities an alternative epistemological paradigm to the older and more traditional extension programmes. This paradigm threatened the extension approach and has…

Sweden has a two-step selection process for admission to higher education. Eligibility is assessed to ensure that the candidates have the ability to take the course/programme. Selections are made based in part on other measures. The focus here is eligibility, particularly the 25:4 scheme, a measure introduced to widen access to higher education in…

It is clear that there is a wide range of arguments that reflect varying degrees of disaffection with the university worldwide. A great deal of understandable effort is directed at the impact of globalisation, especially the way it is making universities engage in academic capitalism (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997). The alternative arguments…

For almost a century, Longwy has been one of the most important industrial areas of France, contributing the majority of the national production of cast iron and steel. The objective of this paper is to analyse how higher education, then health and well-being were mobilised in the process of regeneration of Longwy, which had been very harshly…

This paper discusses the emergence of aspiration as a keyword linked to higher education equity policy in England and Australia since 1997. Aspiration serves multiple purposes when constructed as a problematic site in which policy must intervene. For example, it can be understood as a vector for new technologies of governance that operate through…

This paper argues that working-class widening participation in education is not necessarily new. While it can be argued that it was established in the late twentieth century as a concept and government strategy, aspects of its origins can be traced back to movements such as the mechanics' institute movement, first established by the 1850s.…

This case study outlines the emergence of a large higher education partnership in a sub-region of Wales which has for many years been associated with a low skills stereotype involving unemployment, poverty and deprivation. It contextualises the difficulties and challenges of 2008--the time when the Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute…

In Italy, accreditation of prior learning is a sensitive issue. Despite the lack of laws or qualification frameworks regulating the recognition of non-formal and informal learning, most Italian universities proceed with caution, allowing only a restricted number of credits in the university curriculum related to practical activities or to external…

This article explores why some universities may be "invisible" to adults in their local communities. It suggests that funding changes in UK higher education, particularly those initiated by the Browne Review in 2010, may reinforce such a divide. The article draws on Stefan Collini's critiques of government policy, particularly in relation to the…

Universities have traditionally embraced three missions: teaching, research and community service. The latter usually receives lower status than the other two missions. There has, however, been a revival of interest in community service as a policy oriented exercise for universities and regional development, partly stimulated by international…

At a time when the OECD (2007) is advocating more local engagement for higher education institutions, this study looks at a number of community initiatives in Australia where local universities have played a key role. All were studied as part of the PASCAL Universities and Regional Engagement (PURE) project, which involves a total of 19 regions…

The UK higher education community is well served for news and policy discourse by the weekly "Times Higher Education" ("THE"). "THE" also provides a window into the conduct of this community. Concern about the contribution of research to the wider society beyond academe has risen along with its scale and cost. Views became polarized about the…

This paper draws on an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project that explored the role of UK universities in regional processes of social and cultural transformation. The Higher Education and Regional Transformation (HEART) project explored the effects that universities have on the social and cultural lives of their local and regional…

This study aimed to assess how the university of Catania conceptualised its new role, considering the principal ways that other European universities are changing. The research was focused on assessing the level of awareness of the university's ability to spread and promote lifelong learning (LLL), its role in promoting awareness, innovation and…

The aim of this paper is to focus on the development of HE/CE in Sweden as a transition from a non-academic context to an academic context and a current trend back to a non-academic context considering the nature of the transitions, facilitating factors in these processes and consequences of the transitions. Generally health professional higher…