Liz Thomas - Widening Participation for Postgraduates托马斯-丽兹扩大参与研究生.pptVIP

WIDENING PARTICIPATION FOR POSTGRADUATES: Research, Policy, and Practice University of East London Conference, 27th October 2010 Professor Liz Thomas Overview National and institutional policy vacuum. Current national and institutional knowledge about access to PG study. What English HEIs are doing about widening participation to postgraduate study. Next steps Making the ‘business case’ for WP to PGS Identifying the research priorities Considering institutional responses Policy vacuum ‘[P]ostgraduate degrees… have increasingly become an important route into many professional careers… But these courses are substantially more expensive… and there is no student [financial] support framework… If fair access is to be possible, this issue will need to be addressed’ (Milburn, Panel on Fair Access to the professions, 2009, p95). ‘Universities should consider whether the widening participation agenda applies to postgraduate study and, if so, what might realistically be done to improve matters’ (Thrift report to Denham, 2009, Summary Report, p. 3) Policy vacuum As the WP agenda takes hold at undergraduate level, postgraduate study is increasingly becoming a means of differentiating oneself in a crowded job market. As such we should be concerned about the demographic makeup of the PG population and whether there are barriers to postgraduate study that affect some groups disproportionately. (NUS, 2009, p28). 18 (14%) of English HEIs discuss widening participation to postgraduate study in their Widening Participation Strategic Assessments. (Action on Access, 2010). What do we know about WP to PGS? “What is striking in this review is the paucity of research examining widening participation in the context of postgraduate education.” (Gorard et al, 2006, $8.4). “Fair access to postgraduate study has received far less attention than undergraduate study”. (Benton 2009, p. 21). Zimdars (2009) notes ‘the paucity of statistical information on postgraduate students’ (p. 5). Access da