Social class, ethnicity and access to higher education in the four countries of the UK: 1996–2010

Over the last three decades in the UK, successive Conservative and Labour governments have implemented policies and initiatives aimed at widening access to higher education. During the same period, entrepreneurship education has emerged as an important aspect of higher education provision, as it has in other industrially developed and developing nations. The authors set out to conceptualize entrepreneurship education in the context of the rhetoric and reality of the present UK coalition government's ‘Big Society’ flagship initiative. This research builds on prior work on stakeholder impact on the provision of entrepreneurship education in UK HEIs. The results indicate that the inception and development of the Big Society has been remote, erratic and controversial. This appears to reflect both the attraction and the scepticism exhibited by various stakeholders, who tend to misinterpret the vagueness of the Big Society concept and apportion to it unrealistic ideological roots, expectations and possible outcomes. As a result, the Big Society rhetoric appears to have failed to alter radically the stakeholder balance of influence. The authors found no significant change in the perceptions or impact of various interest groups on the design, delivery and assessment of entrepreneurship education in UK HEIs. They suggest that the next few years are likely to prove crucial not only to the future of higher education in the UK but also to the growth and evolution of entrepreneurship education as well as the development of enterprising graduates. They call for further research to chart the direction, strength and overall impact of the Big Society, as it relates to changes in stakeholders' balance of influence on the development of entrepreneurship education.

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Social Class Matters: Rejoinder to “The Menace of Misinformation: Faculty Misstatements in Management Education and Their Consequences”

Journal of Management Education ◽

10.1177/1052562919846184 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 454-460

Author(s):

Michele L. Heath

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Class ◽

Management Education ◽

Business Schools ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Student Demographics ◽

Or Groups ◽

The World ◽

Working Class Students ◽

What Matters

“Faculty Misstatements in Management Education and their Consequences” is a thought-provoking article that draws attention to what information is being disseminated in business schools. The article argues that faculty communicate misinformation about the economic model and what matters in life. This rejoinder addresses the notion that social class plays a significant role in what students value and what matters to them in life. Social class refers to the division of individuals or groups of culture based on wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and social network. Social class matters because it shapes individuals’ experience of themselves in the world. I argue that socioeconomic factors matter when you discuss beliefs, values, and norms. Student demographics are changing in higher education. Working-class students are gaining access to higher education, which means that the classrooms in business schools are becoming more diverse. Ultimately, social class plays a role in how students view life and how they treat other people. The article concludes with a call to faculty to understand and explore differences in our classroom.

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Geographic Inequalities and Access to Higher Education: Is the Proximity to Higher Education Institution Associated with the Probability of Attendance in England?

Research in Higher Education ◽

10.1007/s11162-019-09563-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 61 (7) ◽

pp. 825-848 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter M. White ◽

David M. Lee

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Education Institution ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

University Campus ◽

Geographical Inequalities ◽

Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

University Access ◽

The Uk ◽

Enrollment Data ◽

The Relationship

Abstract The relationship between geography and the selection of university is well documented and suggests that a student’s location substantially limits their choice of institution. However, there are few studies investigating the interplay between geography and the decision to attend university, particularly in the UK. This study aims to establish if distance to university is associated with the probability of enrolling in higher education in England and forms the quantitative half of a mixed-methods study on the subject. An ordinal logistic regression analysis of HESA enrollment data, which controls for deprivation, is employed. The investigation uses average direct measures of distance between each census area and university campus in England to determine the relationship between distance and enrollment. The findings suggest that geographical distance to university has a negative association with university enrollment. Students within the 10 km measure had a significantly increased odds of enrolling at university than students in the 40 km and above category (odds ratio 10.89; 95% CI 1–2), when controlling for deprivation and population density. It is hoped that the findings of this research will help to raise awareness of geographical inequalities and inform policy on university access.

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Drawing on students’ funds of knowledge

Journal of Information Literacy ◽

10.11645/12.2.2468 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 44 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Amanda L. Folk

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Achievement Gap ◽

Social Class ◽

Funds Of Knowledge ◽

Underrepresented Students ◽

The United States ◽

First Generation College Students ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Conceptual Approach ◽

The Social

Despite programmes and initiatives intended to enable access to higher education for underrepresented students, higher education in the United States suffers from a persistent social class achievement gap. Although research exists about the social and academic factors that contribute to the social class achievement gap, one ubiquitous practice in higher education has been neglected – the research assignment. In this article, I share a subset of findings from a qualitative study that explores first-generation college students’ experiences with research assignments in college. In particular, I present four case studies of participants who relied on their identities and prior knowledge to successfully a complete research assignment. Finally, I introduce the funds of knowledge concept, which honours students’ identities and lived experiences, to provide a conceptual approach for engaging underrepresented and minoritised students through research assignments.

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