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

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Caitlin Hindle ◽  
Vikki Boliver ◽  
Ann Maclarnon ◽  
Cheryl McEwan ◽  
Bob Simpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Academic Preparedness ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Elite University ◽  
The Uk

Targets set by the UK Office for Students require highly academically selective UK universities to enrol a greater percentage of students identified as least likely to participate in higher education. Such students are typically at a disadvantage in terms of levels of academic preparedness and economic, cultural and social capital. Drawing on eighteen interviews with first-generation students at Durham University, we identify five sites of pressure: developing a sense of belonging within the terms of an elite university culture, engagement in student social activities, financial worries, concerns about academic progress, and self-transformation. Based on these insights, we argue that support for first-generation scholars will require that universities recognise and redress elitist cultures that discourage applications from prospective first-generation scholars and prevent those who do enrol from having the best educational and all-round experience.

scholarly journals Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Forsyth ◽  
Claire Hamshire ◽  
Danny Fontaine-Rainen ◽  
Leza Soldaat
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Staff Perceptions ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe principles of diversity and inclusion are valued across the higher education sector, but the ways in which these principles are translated into pedagogic practice are not always evident. Students who are first in their family to attend university continue to report barriers to full participation in university life. They are more likely to leave their studies early, and to achieve lower grades in their final qualifications, than students whose families have previous experience of higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a mismatch between staff perceptions and students’ experiences might be a possible contributor to these disparities. The study explored and compared staff discourses about the experiences of first generation students at two universities, one in the United Kingdom (UK), and the other in South Africa (SA). One-to-one interviews were carried out with 40 staff members (20 at each institution) to explore their views about first generation students. The results showed that staff were well aware of challenges faced by first generation students; however, they were unsure of their roles in relation to shaping an inclusive environment, and tended not to consider how to use the assets that they believed first generation students bring with them to higher education. This paper explores these staff discourses; and considers proposals for challenging commonly-voiced assumptions about students and university life in a broader context of diversity and inclusive teaching practice.

Cultures of Compensation

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (99) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Jeremy Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Studies ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Ecological Site ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk

The current highly-advanced form of capitalism – turbocharged by the cybernetic revolution and engaging in all imaginable forms of creative destruction – provides the backdrop to many of the articles in this issue. They are broadly concerned with the question of how capitalist cultures (and their agents) retain legitimacy in an era of extreme commercialisation and insecurity. Josh Bowsher and Theo Reeves-Evison examine the politics of ecological credit schemes, that allow businesses to destroy a discrete ecosystem in return for the restoration of an ecological site elsewhere. Nancy Ettlinger situates the emergence of for-profit crowdsourcing as a key contemporary mode of value-extraction in the longer history of ‘prosumption’. Michael Symons and Marion Maddox offer a fascinating study of the mechanisms by which the explicitly commercial and profit-oriented nature of a range of social activities within advanced capitalist societies – including megachurches - come to be understood as guarantees of the legitimacy and authenticity of those activities themselves. Ella Harris’ considers ‘compensatory cultures’: cultures that are compensatory responses to crisis, but are presented and received as desirable, even preferable ways of organising life. On a somewhat different topic, but one no less relevant to the exigencies of our present moment, or less central to the core concerns of New Formations – Dhanveer Singh Brar and Ashwani Sharma’s ‘What is this ‘Black’ in Black Studies ?’maps out a new presence in race discourse in the UK arts and higher education, under the heading of ‘US Black Critical Thought’. And the issue begins with a substantial interview with the great Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller who died in 2019.

scholarly journals Sense of belonging as an indicator of social capital

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 627-642
Author(s):  
Mi Young Ahn ◽  
Howard H. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis paper examines the possibility of using sense of belonging as an indicator for social capital. Social capital, from the collective social capital theory perspective, is constructed from three main elements: trust, social network and participation. Social capital is crucial to civil society and well-being, but there is no consensus on how to define and measure it. This paper approaches this problem with the different but related concept of sense of belonging, as belonging overlaps with social capital conceptually, but also is more amenable to measurement.Design/methodology/approachQualitative and quantitative data was collected from approximately 800 university students and used to explore the relationship between belonging and social capital both conceptually and empirically in the higher education context.FindingsThe mixed methods research analysis in this paper provides strong evidence to show how sense of belonging and social capital are theoretically and empirically intertwined, Conceptually they occupy overlapping spheres and their connections can be clearly traced and measured. This is supported by substantial statistical evidence of their relatedness, despite their independent origins in social research. For these reasons, this paper argues that sense of belonging can be used as a simplified alternative way to measure social capital.Originality/valueThis paper explains the advantages of using sense of belonging to understand social capital. It sets out a conceptual framework and provides a statistical demonstration. This paper develops and enriches a current strand of social capital and sense of belonging research in the fields of sociology and higher education policy.

First Will Women to Succeed and the

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-56
Author(s):  
Terry L. Birdwhistell ◽  
Deirdre A. Scaggs
Keyword(s):  
Intercollegiate Athletics ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Women's Organizations ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Literary Societies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Women’S Organizations

This chapter follows the first generation of women to attend UK, including the first women to earn degrees and women’s academic successes generally. It explains the impact of not having women’s housing on campus until the opening of Patterson Hall in 1904. It introduces the first women members of the UK faculty and examines the challenges they faced. The chapter also explores the first efforts by women to create women’s organizations, such as literary societies, women’s intercollegiate athletics, and social activities on the UK campus.

scholarly journals What culture is your university? Have universities any right to teach entrepreneurialism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Christopher John Bamber ◽  
Enis Elezi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Main Category ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Market Culture ◽  
Culture Model ◽  
Study Population ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the need for universities to develop an entrepreneurial culture and assess higher education practitioners’ opinions of the culture of the university they are working in. Design/methodology/approach The research provides empirical data collected through a survey instrument originally used for a PhD research study; however, this paper focuses on the question set related to culture, which was based on the organisational culture model presented by Quinn in 1988. Findings The findings indicate that a number of respondents reported from a heterogeneous population of higher education institutes predominantly responded they were working within a hierarchy cultural type with many reporting a market cultural type. While respondents from a homogeneous group from a single university reported in the main they were working in a market-driven cultural type with the next main category being a clan culture. Research limitations/implications The study population reported in the main that there is predominantly a market culture in UK universities. However, this research has focussed entirely on respondents working within the UK HE sector, thus, has ignored potential differences that could be present within the global HE emerging markets. Originality/value The paper strengthens understanding of the critical importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in universities. Students, scholars, HE policy makers and HE practitioners can gather a range of insights pointed at university culture and rest assured in the main they are market focussed.

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