The impact of the changing English higher education marketplace on widening participation and fair access: evidence from a discourse analysis of access agreements

McCaig, Colin

doi:10.5456/wpll.17.1.5

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…What universities actually do in this regard, be it undertaking outreach activities or conducting research into better understanding the situation and improving their WP recruitment, is left to their own discretion. There is no research which compares who does what, but a discourse analysis of access agreements found that the more selective universities describe the challenges of selecting the brightest students and maintaining their high status, while the less selective ones have a longer history of WP success and see maintaining recruitment overall as a key challenge (McCaig 2015). Many universities operate a their own 'contextual' admissions systems to provide WP applicants with a better chance of gaining a place.…”

Section: University Access In the Ukmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disadvantaged by degrees? How widening participation students are not only hindered in accessing HE, but also during – and after – university

Budd

2016

Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education

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There is no shortage of literature addressing the range of reasons why more disadvantaged groups are underrepresented in higher education -and particularly elite universities -in the UK, and it is clear that this has little to do with any real deficiency in terms of ability. This paper begins with an overview of this issue but then extends the argument beyond widening participation at the point of access. It raises concerns emerging from two relatively underresearched areas in the literature which indicate that 'widening participation' -WP -students are faced with greater inequalities than their more affluent peers both during their undergraduate degrees as well as beyond them. Although the focus here is on the UK, this topic and many of its themes will be familiar to educationalists and HE practitioners in other countries.

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Section: University Access In the Ukmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disadvantaged by degrees? How widening participation students are not only hindered in accessing HE, but also during – and after – university

Budd

2016

Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education

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“…It has been suggested elsewhere that the emphasis on the WP group may be linked to the 'public good' responsibilities HE in England has towards this group (Author), seen primarily through increasing life opportunities of disadvantaged populations and goals to increase employment of nationals (e.g. McCaig, 2015). These responsibilities do not and have never applied to international students because of their representations in policy as not the responsibility of the UK government (Author).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Teaching Excellence Framework in the United Kingdom: An Opportunity to Include International Students as “Equals”?

Hayes

2017

Journal of Studies in International Education

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Abstract:Research on international students in British higher education points to marginalisation of their unique perspectives in university classrooms. The aim of the paper is to consider how the most recent policy changes, particularly the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) continue to do so. The article also argues that the TEF, being a major higher education reform, can lead to change in attitudes towards international students and contribute to their more equal status. The paper discusses how this could be done and proposes changes to the TEF that would distance universities from policy moves that have contributed to the 'peripheral' status of international students for many years. Despite being British-based, the analysis has international implications as it points to a series of ways in which the scope and nature of metrics used in national evaluations of teaching quality can affect the status of international students in higher education.

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“…For these two institutions, we can see WP research becoming part of the brand of these universities as they negotiate their positions in an increasingly competitive field (McCaig, 2015).…”

Section: Examples From Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Institutions maintain, Bowl and Hughes argue, an uneasy "balance between the social justice mission and operating in a global market", suggesting that what can be read presents a move "against social justice " (2013: 23). McCaig (2015) has reinforced these concerns, stressing how institutions use their access agreements to position themselves within a market that is less about education equity than it is competition for student numbers. Rainford (2016) has argued that through their access agreements institutions are interpreting disadvantage for their own purposes and risk targeting support at groups who may not be those most in need.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there has been a number of studies concerned with the contents and contexts of access agreements (Bowl and Hughes, 2013;McCaig and Adnett, 2009;McCaig, 2015;Rainford, 2016) and syntheses of WP research (Gorard and Smith, 2006;Kettley, 2007;Sheeran et al, 2007), there has been no study that focuses specifically on how research is engaged in access agreements. In exploring the different ways that research is understood and discussed, this paper calls for greater cohesion between policy, practice and research at institutional levels to inform and influence national and international policy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Troubling ideas for widening participation: how higher education institutions in England engage with research in their access agreements

Wardrop¹,

Hutchings²,

Collins³

et al. 2016

Wide Particip Lifelong Learn

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This article explores how higher education institutions in England engage with research in their access agreements. Through an analysis of access agreements from 2014-15 to 2016-17, a picture of how research is understood, undertaken and documented emerges. A lexical analysis of the texts was used to establish the different ways research is being referred to or funded as part of the access agreement process. The analysis shows a productive relationship between national policy and institutional activity. But there appears to be a lack of infrastructure at an institutional and sector level to join up sustained and rigorous research with widening participation activity and policy. This means that, even after ten years of access agreements, widening participation is not fully embedded into the academic practice of higher education. We argue that research undertaken as part of the access agreement process can provide much needed evidence of impact and situate activity within an institution-wide context. However, we also suggest that widening participation research has the potential to offer productive troubling ideas to dominant rhetoric and, in so doing, shape new ways of thinking about, and doing, widening participation within institutions and across the sector.

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The impact of the changing English higher education marketplace on widening participation and fair access: evidence from a discourse analysis of access agreements

Cited by 27 publications

References 16 publications

Disadvantaged by degrees? How widening participation students are not only hindered in accessing HE, but also during – and after – university

Disadvantaged by degrees? How widening participation students are not only hindered in accessing HE, but also during – and after – university

The Teaching Excellence Framework in the United Kingdom: An Opportunity to Include International Students as “Equals”?

Troubling ideas for widening participation: how higher education institutions in England engage with research in their access agreements

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