This collection offers an authoritative, up-to-date commentary on the challenges facing higher education today across both the UK and internationally. The book charts the impact of global economic trends and recent policy developments for students, academics, providers and changing course provision.

Autorentext
CAROLINE BERGGREN Research Fellow at the Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden CHRISTINA CLIFFORDSON Professor in Education at University West, Sweden MIRIAM DAVID Professor Emerita of Sociology of education at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK SARAH EARL-NOVELL Research Associate at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), USA JOHN FIELD Professor in the School of Education, University of Stirling, UK PHILIP FRAME Principal Lecturer in Organisational Development in the Human Resource Management Department of Middlesex University Business School, UK CATHERINE LIDO Programme Leader of the Psychology Subject Group at the University of West London, UK ANNE MACLACHLAN Senior Researcher at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley, USA LYNDA MEASOR Reader in Applied Social Sciences in the School of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Brighton, UK BARBARA MERRILL Reader in Lifelong Learning in the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Warwick, UK MARIE-PIERRE MOPREAU Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bedfordshire, UK JESSICA MORGAN Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Counselling at the University of Greenwich, UK NATALIE MORGAN-KLEIN Research Fellow in the School of Education, University of Stirling, UK LOUISE MORLEY Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER) at the University of Sussex, UK M. TERESA PADILLA-CARMONA Senior Lecturer in the Department of Research and Assessment Methods in Education, University of Seville, Spain MARY STUART Professor of Higher Education Studies at the University of Lincoln, UK YVETTE TAYLOR Professor in Social and Policy Studies and Head of the Weeks Centre, London South Bank University, UK PAULA WILCOX Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Brighton, UK RUTH WOODFIELD Reader in Sociology at the University of Sussex, UK ALAN WOODLEY was for many years a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University, UK MANTZ YORKE Visiting Professor in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK

Inhalt
List of Tables, Charts and Figures Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors PART I: INCLUSION, EXCLUSION: ISSUES IN WIDENING PARTICIPATION Introduction: Widening Participation in Contemporary Context; T.Hinton-Smith Changing Policy Discourses on Equity and Diversity in UK Higher Education: What is the Evidence?; M.David Widening Participation in Universities in England and Wales: Is There a Connection with Honours Degree Achievement?; M.Yorke Wider Still and Wider? A Historical Look at the 'Open-ness' of the Open University of the United Kingdom; A.Woodley PART II: ENGAGING WITH HIGHER EDUCATION AS A NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENT: ACCESS AND MOTIVATION Good Students, Bad Pupils: Constructions of 'Aspiration', 'Disadvantage' and Social Class in Undergraduate-led Widening Participation Work; Y.Taylor Mature Women Students, Study Motivation and Employability; R.Woodfield Lone Parent Students' Motivations for and Hopes of Higher Education Engagement; T.Hinton-Smith PART III: NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION 'Choosing a Student Lifestyle?' Questions of Taste, Cultural Capital and Gaining a Graduate Job; M.Stuart , C.Lido & J.Morgan Transformation or Trauma: The Transition to Higher Education of Non-traditional Students; P.Frame , L.Measor & P.Wilcox Non-traditional Adult Students: Access, Drop-out, Retention and Developing a Learner Identity; B.Merrill The Importance of Social Support Structures for Retention and Success; J.Field  & N.Morgan-Klein PART IV: WIDENING PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS Widening Participation Trends in Sweden: Regulations and their Effects, Intended and Unintended; C.Berggren  & C.Cliffordson Trends in Widening Participation in French Higher Education; M.Moreau Widening Participation in Spanish Higher Education: Will the Current Reform Promote the Inclusion of Non-traditional Students?'; M.Padilla-Carmona Experiencing Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: The Symbolic Power of Being a Student; L.Morley Womenand Students of Colour as Non-traditional Students: The Difficulties of Inclusion in the United States; A.MacLachlan Widening Participation and 'Elite' Online Education: The case of the University of California; S.Earl-Novell Conclusion: Assessing Progress and Priorities in Widening Participation; T.Hinton-Smith Index