From elitist to inclusive higher education

Participation in higher education (HE) has the potential to enhance the social mobility, inclusion and life chances of individuals who belong to socially disadvantaged groups. The drive to ‘widen participation’ in university education aims to include greater numbers of students from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds and ‘under-represented’ groups, in terms of social class, gender, ethnicity and disability. Looking at evidence from the United Kingdom about access and outcomes in relation to these aspects of student diversity, we see that, despite the mass expansion of UK HE in recent decades, differential patterns of access and outcomes remain. Who has benefitted most from the transformation of HE from a historical elite to a mass system catering for a diverse student population? And to what extent are universities now fully inclusive environments, where all individuals, with their unique and multi-faceted identities, strengths and needs, learn and develop and contribute to the diversity of the student population? The chapter in the first edition of this book asked these same questions, and they remain pertinent to this second edition, fully updated to reflect recent developments, themes and priorities.