Access to Success and Social Mobility through Higher Education

This edited collection illuminates the benefits, drawbacks, challenges, opportunities of the push to widen access to success and social mobility through university and other post-secondary education experiences in the UK and internationally. It examines a range of particular case studies, and addresses issues including the role of part-time study, the experiences of BAME students, increasing access within rural communities, issues faced by those with mental health problems, and the role of employers.


There has been some progress in some countries; increased access and enhanced success for some targeted populations, but not for others; and improvements in some regions of particular countries, but not for others. Efforts to improve access to success and social mobility, to strengthen the identification and nurturing of talent in every community and every corner of our societies, is, like the 'curate's egg', only good in parts. This collection demonstrates that educational inequalities, unfairness and injustices still remain.

“Through 15 chapters by education researchers from the UK, Africa, the US, Israel, and Australia, this volume examines the challenges and opportunities related to widening access to success and social mobility through higher education experiences in the UK and around the world. They discuss how highly selective universities in the UK can be held to account for their contribution to social mobility; access to higher education in South Africa; the role of policy in enhancing social mobility through access to part-time study; increasing access to tertiary and higher education in rural communities in Tasmania and New Zealand; the contribution of social capital to student success in higher education; the experiences of black, Asian, and minority ethnic undergraduates in a UK creative arts university; students' views of the institutional learning environment in a multicultural college and impacts on their academic and social success; the relationship between social background and future educational and occupational outcomes; opening up higher education to those with mental health problems; service learning in academic activism for educational transformation; the development of a new campus of Coventry University in Scarborough; a teacher's experience of the effect of part-time degree study; a whole-institution approach to widening participation in higher education; and the role of global advocacy and action in access.”

Through 15 chapters by education researchers from the UK, Africa, the US, Israel, and Australia, this volume examines the challenges and opportunities related to widening access to success and social mobility through higher education experiences in the UK and around the world. They discuss how highly selective universities in the UK can be held to account for their contribution to social mobility; access to higher education in South Africa; the role of policy in enhancing social mobility through access to part-time study; increasing access to tertiary and higher education in rural communities in Tasmania and New Zealand; the contribution of social capital to student success in higher education; the experiences of black, Asian, and minority ethnic undergraduates in a UK creative arts university; students' views of the institutional learning environment in a multicultural college and impacts on their academic and social success; the relationship between social background and future educational and occupational outcomes; opening up higher education to those with mental health problems; service learning in academic activism for educational transformation; the development of a new campus of Coventry University in Scarborough; a teacher’s experience of the effect of part-time degree study; a whole-institution approach to widening participation in higher education; and the role of global advocacy and action in access. -- Annotation ©2018 (protoview.com)
'Access to Success and Social Mobility Through Higher Education: A Curate’s Egg? is a welcome contribution to the current debate on access, success and social mobility, which can certainly provide a platform for local and globalcampaigning for social justice to drive change – a call for us to shout loudly about the need to think differently about how we address inequality of access to success and lifelong learning opportunities.' -- Kath Bridger, University of Bradford. Reviewed in Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, Volume 22, Number 1, April 2020.

Stuart Billingham is Professor Emeritus of Lifelong Learning at York St John University, UK and was previously Pro Vice Chancellor at the University. He has worked to widen access to success in, and through, tertiary education for almost 40 years. He has published widely, both nationally and internationally, and regularly presents at major international conferences on these issues.

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