Organisational Identity as a Barrier to Widening Access in Scottish Universities

Abstract

Widening access policy has historically focused on tackling the socioeconomic barriers to university access faced by prospective students from under-represented groups, but increasingly policy makers are seeking to also address the barriers to wider access posed by undergraduate admissions policies. In this vein, the Scottish Government has recently called upon universities to set separate academic entry requirements for socioeconomically disadvantaged applicants which recognise that "the school attainment of disadvantaged learners often does not reflect their full potential" and which better reflect the minimum needed to succeed in higher education. In this paper, we draw on in-depth interviews with admissions personnel at eighteen Scottish universities to explore the scope for more progressive admissions policies of this kind in light of universities' identities as organisations and in light of corresponding organisational strategies for position-taking in global and national higher education fields. We present a theoretical model and an empirical illustration of three hierarchically-ordered ideal types of organisational identity-globally competitive, nationally selective, and locally transformative-and show that the more dominant of these tend to constrain the development of more progressive admissions policies. This is because globally competitive and, to a lesser extent, nationally selective organisational identities are understood to require admission of the 'brightest and best', conceptualised as those with the highest levels of prior academic attainment who can be expected to succeed at university and beyond as a matter of course. We conclude that universities must recognise and redress the implicitly exclusionary nature of their organisational identities if genuine progress on widening access is to be made.

The use of access thresholds to widen participation at Scottish universities

“…They are, by definition, individuals whose circumstances have prevented them from having as advanced and as deep and developed an education as more traditional students. Some Scottish universities, especially higher tariff ones, have expressed ambivalence about supporting students who might not be ready to hit the ground running (Boliver, Powell and Moreira, 2018). However, there is much good practice across the sector on which to draw, not least within lower tariff universities, which have long supported contextually disadvantaged students to succeed at degree level.…”

“…4 The wider project involved interviews with admissions personnel working at Scottish universities, coupled with an analysis of statistical data relating to the educational achievements and trajectories young people in Scotland. The key findings of the interview research are reported elsewhere (Boliver, Powell and Moreira 2018). In this article we focus on the evidence generated by the statistical component of the project.…”

Problematising social mobility in relation to Higher Education policy

“…While rhetoric might prioritise the pursuit of absolute improvements in terms of social mobility, the individualised discourse that is a particular feature of recent policy, but which has its roots in the 1960s, allows the problems caused by wider inequalities to be marginalised. This discourse allows ‘elite institutions’ to recruit the ‘heroic disadvantaged’ (Boliver, Powell, & Moreira, ) without dramatically altering their enrolment strategies or challenging the positions of the already privileged.…”

Experiences of first-generation scholars at a highly selective UK university

“…This is key for retaining students to graduation (Tinto 1987). However, some interviewees viewed interactions with staff at Durham University as either infrequent or negative, an experience that perhaps reflects the emphasis that self-defining elite universities place on being 'research-intensive' rather than 'teachingfocused' (Boliver, Powell et al 2018).…”

“…First and foremost, universities need to recognise that they may be perpetuating ideas of elitism and forms of 'university culture' that make some students feel excluded. Some highly selective universities -including in the past, Durham -have traded on their self-defined elite status in order to attract students (Boliver, Powell et al 2018). This risks an institution becoming popularly perceived not as 'elite' but rather elitist, 'traditional' and highstatus, and therefore primarily attracting students who associate themselves with these same values.…”