Access to Higher Education in Britain: The Impact of Tuition Fees and Financial Assistance

Author(s):  
Claire Callender
1997 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Eisenmann

In this article, Linda Eisenmann examines the role and impact of Barbara Solomon's now classic text in women's educational history, In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America. Eisenmann analyzes how Solomon's book influenced, defined, and in some ways limited the field of women's educational history. She shows how current historical research — such as the study of normal schools and academies — grew out of Solomon's work. She points out where the book is innovative and indispensable and where it disappoints us as teachers and scholars in the 1990s. Eisenmann criticizes Solomon for placing too much emphasis on women's access to higher education, thereby ignoring the importance of wider historical and educational influences such as economics, women's occupational choices, and the treatment of women in society at large. Finally, Eisenmann examines the state of subsequent research in women's higher educational history. She urges researchers to investigate beyond the areas defined by Solomon's work and to assess the impact of these neglected subjects on women's experiences in education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
LEONARDO CIVINELLI TORNEL DA SILVEIRA

ABSTRACT This article analyses the widening access policies implemented by Brazil during the 1990s and in 2016. It cites and evaluates the different strategies used by the government, such as student loans, needs-based and race-based quotas. In the context of a highly privatized sector, in which for-profit higher education institutions account for over half of the existing higher education institutions in Brazil, the results display a relative growth in higher education access based on minorities and needs-based communities. However, it also showcases some trends not achieved as originally planned by the government (specially increasing higher education participation in regions other than the south and the southeast) and serves as a point requiring further research to evaluate the influence on the lives of students and graduates. This study uses government and publicly available sources to analyse the impact of this strategy over time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Major

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of different models of work-based learning (WBL) in operation at the University of Chester and provides two examples of university-employer partnership where WBL is used as the principal means for bringing about change in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the experience of one UK University with significant WBL provision and outlines the evolutionary development of a number of different models of WBL designed to meet the specific needs of employers and individual students. Findings The paper reflects on the distinctive contribution of WBL in higher education to bring about change to the culture and working practices of two public organisations, thereby improving performance and developing new ways of working. Practical implications It will also consider the impact of WBL on learners often giving them a greater sense of their own identity and professionalism and point to the way in which WBL challenges the university as much as it challenges employer partners. Social implications Widening access to higher education and increasing participation in HE. Originality/value The identification and description of a number of different models of WBL in operation in the HE sector.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Pinto

Drawing on educational census data and a review of news articles and higher education policies in Brazil, this article examines the impact of COVID-19 on the access and retention of the low-income Brazilian population in higher education. Guided by the question, “What is the impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable population in Brazil in terms of access to, and retention in higher education?”, the paper is structured in two sections: the first offers a short historical overview of Brazilian higher education; the second examines the impact of the pandemic on student retention in higher education, looking at factors such as social isolation, job and income precarity, use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), internet access, and technological resources. I argue that distance education offered by private higher education institutions benefits the privileged students and that the effects of the pandemic are detrimental to the socially disadvantaged students since those who are in public universities do not always have access to technology, and those who study in private universities feel the impact of not being able to pay tuition fees, besides the loss of several jobs in different sectors. In conclusion, I recommend policy initiatives to improve access to higher education.


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAIRE CALLENDER ◽  
DAVID WILKINSON

AbstractVariable tuition fees and bursaries, funded by higher education institutions, were introduced in England to promote student choice and provider competition, while bursaries would off-set higher fees and safeguard access. Both have been central to government reforms of undergraduate student funding since 2004. This article assesses student perceptions of the impact of bursaries on their higher education decisions and choices, and considers the implications for the 2012/13 National Scholarship Programme. It concludes that most students do not think their choices are affected by bursaries, although those who are cost-conscious, expect to receive higher bursaries, especially of £1,000 or more, and attend Russell Group universities are more likely to think bursaries are influential and important. The reconfiguration of institutional aid from 2012/13 may overcome some perceived barriers to the effectiveness of financial support, but is likely to exacerbate others, and create new impediments and inequalities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghazala Azmat ◽  
Ştefania Simion

AbstractOver the last two decades, undergraduate university education in England moved from being state-funded and free for students, to costing all students substantial amounts in tuition fees. In this paper, using detailed administrative longitudinal microdata that follow all students attending state schools in England (approximately 95% of student population), we causally show that, despite the substantial reforms, enrollment fell only by 0.5 percentage points, where the effect is largely borne by those in wealthier groups, reducing the enrolment gap across socio-economic groups. Since tuition fees were introduced in conjunction with the government offering generous means-tested maintenance (cash) grants, as well as loans, our results highlight the importance of reducing financing constraints. Beyond enrollment, we find that the reforms have limited impact on students’ higher education choices, such as relocation decisions, university choice, and field of study. Finally, by tracking the students after graduation, we show similarly small effects on labor market outcomes.


Uniciencia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Alejandro González-Campos ◽  
Cristian Manuel Carvajal-Muquillaza ◽  
Juan Elías Aspeé-Chacón

Access to higher education is only a first step in achieving equity in education; the following step is improving student retention, or lowering dropout rates, which is the same thing. The present study focused on the definition of an index as an estimator of the risk of individuals dropping out of a university using a Markov chain model, based on the randomness of the occurrence of dropping out. The suggested index was applied to a sample of 5,700 university students from the 2012-2015 annual cohorts of 8 university departments of a public regional university in Chile. The results indicate that the highest average probability of dropping out (slightly more than 39%) occurs in the first 2 semesters of university studies, and then decreases through time. This indicates the need for institutional retention policies that pay particular attention to the first year of university studies. Having this index also allows a formal estimation of changes or temporary variations in the risk, as well as quantifying the impact of interventions, not only for the case under study but for the entire higher education system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Miguel Antonio Lim ◽  
Sylvie Lomer ◽  
Christopher Millora

The Philippines has recently introduced a subsidy for tuition fees to enable universal access to higher education. There has been a heated debate about the Act’s sustainability and its implications for equity. We examine these issues and argue that, despite concerns, this move is a strategic long-term investment for the country.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Paterson ◽  
Lucy Hunter Blackburn ◽  
Elisabet Weedon

Policy on widening access to higher education in Scotland is defined mainly in terms of students who live in deprived areas as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Although area measures can be informative, and are convenient because they require only a postcode to classify any person into a deprivation category, they are crude. We use data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Growing Up in Scotland Survey and the Scottish Household Survey to analyse the extent to which neighbourhood measures can be used as the basis of valid indicators of widening access. We conclude that they are flawed, although not wholly useless, and ought to be supplemented by more valid measures of students' social circumstances.


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