Access to Success and Social Mobility through Higher Education

Stuart Billingham is Professor Emeritus of Lifelong Learning at York St John University, UK and was previously Pro Vice Chancellor at the University. He has worked to widen access to success in, and through, tertiary education for almost 40 years. He has published widely, both nationally and internationally, and regularly presents at major international conferences on these issues.

Through 15 chapters by education researchers from the UK, Africa, the US, Israel, and Australia, this volume examines the challenges and opportunities related to widening access to success and social mobility through higher education experiences in the UK and around the world. They discuss how highly selective universities in the UK can be held to account for their contribution to social mobility; access to higher education in South Africa; the role of policy in enhancing social mobility through access to part-time study; increasing access to tertiary and higher education in rural communities in Tasmania and New Zealand; the contribution of social capital to student success in higher education; the experiences of black, Asian, and minority ethnic undergraduates in a UK creative arts university; students' views of the institutional learning environment in a multicultural college and impacts on their academic and social success; the relationship between social background and future educational and occupational outcomes; opening up higher education to those with mental health problems; service learning in academic activism for educational transformation; the development of a new campus of Coventry University in Scarborough; a teacher’s experience of the effect of part-time degree study; a whole-institution approach to widening participation in higher education; and the role of global advocacy and action in access.

• Foreword; Dianne Willcocks CBE, DL 1. Access to success and social mobility through higher education: A Curate's Egg?; Stuart Billingham Section A Aspects of the contemporary access debate 2. Access to the "elite" in England; Emile Sundorph, Danail Vasilev and Louis Coiffait 3. Access to higher education in South Africa; Clara Gwatirera 4. Learning through life revisited: the role of policy in enhancing social mobility through access to part-time study; Liz Marr and John Butcher 5. Increasing access to tertiary education in rural communities: experiences from Tasmania and New Zealand; Margaret Noble and Jessica Grant Section B Focusing on student success and social mobility 6. What can social capital contribute to student success in higher education? Perspectives from students and institutions; Helen May and Mark Jones 7. "So you want to be an academic"? The experiences of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Undergraduates in a UK Creative Arts University; Siobhan Clay 8. Students' views of tertiary education as ‘access to success’: A case study of a multicultural college in Israel; Bruria Schaedel 9. Collective Responsibility and Collaborative Action: Universities and Employers in Pursuit of Social Mobility; Nik Miller Section C Innovations in access to success 10. Students not Patients: Opening-up the university to those with mental health problems; Simon Newton and Nick Rowe 11. Service-learning and academic activism: a review, prospects, and a time for revival?; Tony Wall, Dwight E Giles and Tim Stanton 12. Warming a higher education cold spot: the case of Coventry University in Scarborough; Craig Gaskell and Ian Dunn 13. A teacher's experience of the transformative pedagogic effect of part-time degree study; Gerard Sharpling and Neil Murray Section D Access to success and social mobility: Thinking big 14. Access to success and social mobility involves everyone! A whole institution approach to widening participation; Liz Thomas 15. Advocating for Access: World Access to Higher Education Day and beyond; Graeme Atherton