2008

Participation and Equity: A review of the participation in higher education of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and indigenous people  /  of Melbourne [Australia]. Centre for the Study of Higher Education.-- 2008.   141 p. 

 
2007

Access to post-compulsory education and training: economic, sociological and political determinants and remaining research gaps / Souto Otero, Manuel.--  IN: Comparative Education, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 571-586, 2007 - ISSN: 0305-0068
CONTENTS: This paper presents a review and assessment of existing theoretical accounts to explain differentials in access to education and training in advanced economies. These theories tend to focus on the analysis of the influence of a set of economic, sociological and political variables on access to education. Existing theories are criticized on two grounds. Firstly, the seldom take into consideration the crucial role of political-institutional factors, and in particular, welfare states' actions through direct investment and regulation in shaping access levels. Secondly, they focus narrowly on the analysis of different stages of education and training, and this does not reflect the current policy emphasis on lifelong learning. The paper concludes with an outline of a future research agenda to address these gaps, and also calls for a more rigorous analysis of the weight of the different factors affecting access.

Broadening recruitment to higher education through the admission system: gender and class perspectives / Berggren, Caroline.--  IN: Studies in Higher Education, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 97-116, 2007 - ISSN: 0307-5079
CONTENTS: Alternative entrance routes into higher education have been established in Sweden in order to facilitate the entrance of under-represented groups of students. The question is whether or not the additional entrance possibilities have served their purpose and, if so, to what extent. This is a longitudinal study using register data on one whole cohort, with the aim to follow these individuals' educational careers up to university matriculation. The analyses simultaneously consider effects of gender and class. Results show that upper middle-class men are most successful in utilising every one of the additional entrance possibilities. The additional entrance possibilities have increased class bias in higher education even more, and the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test, in particular, is an important contributor to this bias.