Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education: Access after the White Paper
16 February 2012
Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London, UK
In a House of Lords debate in October 2011 on the impact of Government policy on universities, peers commented that the Higher Education White Paper Students at the Heart of the System, “completely neglected…postgraduate studies”, that there “is a serious threat to graduate schools” and that it seems “inevitable that the postgraduate landscape will shift significantly as a result…of the heavy indebtedness of future undergraduates”. Government response in that debate was thin, Baroness Verma offering “We will continue to monitor the impact of our student finance reforms on postgraduate studies”.
The mission to widen participation in higher education to correct for historic and systemic under-representation of certain groups in society is undiminished in its critical importance, a decade-and-a-half of hard effort notwithstanding. Yet evidence and debate on widening participation to postgraduate provision remains sparse, to say the least.
At a time when the consequences of seismic change to the English undergraduate higher education sector are relatively unknown, careful consideration needs to be given to potential effects on postgraduate education.
This timely one day conference:
- Presented important and innovative research in widening access to and participation in UK postgraduate study:
- what do we already know about access to postgraduate study?
- what research about postgraduates is currently being undertaken?
- Aimed to identify implications of current research and knowledge for:
- Government policy on postgraduate education
- Institutional practice in postgraduate education and widening participation
- Sought to engender and develop collaboration and peer support
Research was presented and debate encouraged around the following themes:
- Widening access to postgraduate education for UK students, including institutional and mission group differences
- The case for widening access to postgraduate study: social justice or economic imperative?
- Transitions to postgraduate higher education
Research to be presented
Wage Inequality and Postgraduate Education
Steve Machin (University College London) and Joanne Lindley (University of Surrey) present findings from the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance and ESRC funded research investigating increases in postgraduate education and the implications for inequality.
Transitions to postgraduate study (Institute of Education)
Penny Jane-Burke (Roehampton University and Institute of Education, University of London) presents findings from a large research project on different forms of transition to Masters level study including for students from groups traditionally under-represented in higher education.
Programme
|
10.00 - 10.30 |
Registration and coffee |
|
10.30 - 10.35 |
Welcome |
|
10.35 – 10.50 |
Opening remarks – Access to Postgraduate education and the White Paper - Paul Wakeling (University of York) |
|
10.50 - 11.20 |
Keynote 1 – Iain Cameron (Head of Research Careers, Research Council UK) |
|
11.20 - 11.40 |
Research – Wage Inequality and Postgraduate Education, Steve Machin (University College London) and Joanne Lindley (University of Surrey) |
|
11.40 – 11.55 |
Coffee Break |
|
11.55 - 12.15 |
Research – Transitions to postgraduate study, Penny Jane-Burke (Institute of Education and Roehampton University) |
|
12.15 - 12.45 |
Discussion and questions for Research presentations |
|
12.45 - 13.45 |
Lunch |
|
13.45 – 14.15 |
Keynote 2 (TBC) |
|
14.15 – 15.15 |
Panel Debate Dr Sharon Ding, Dean of Faculty of Education and Language Studies, The Open University Ms Sarah Howls, Head of Widening Participation, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Dr Penelope Griffin, Policy Lead, Bridge Group and Head of Widening Participation at the University of Nottingham) Dr Debbie McVitty, Research and Policy Officer (Postgraduates), National Union of Students |
|
15.15 – 15.30 |
Closing remarks |
Clouds in this Cloudscape
- Commentary: Taught Postgraduates and Social Mobility
- WP2PG - Panel Debate (2 comments)
- WP2PG - Research Councils UK - Iain Cameron, Research Councils UK
- WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York)
- WP2PG - Transitions to postgraduate study - Penny Jane Burke, Roehampton University and Institute of Education, University of London (1 comment)
- WP2PG - Wage Inequality and Postgraduate Education - Stephen Machin, Centre for Economic Performance
- WP2PG - Widening participation and postgraduate research - Nigel Vincent, The British Academy
Cloudstream
- Commentary: Taught Postgraduates and Social Mobility
cloud added to the cloudscape Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education: Access after the White Paper by John Rose-Adams on 20 February 2012 - new embedded content added to the cloud WP2PG - Transitions to postgraduate study - Penny Jane Burke, Roehampton University and Institute of Education, University of London by John Rose-Adams on 15 February 2012
- "From Paul Jarman:
I don't know whether this is ann appropriate discussion point for Thursday, but I...
added to WP2PG - Panel Debate by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "From Felicity Fletcher-Campbell:
a) Is there a common set of indicators for effective...
added to WP2PG - Panel Debate by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "Wakeling, P. (2009) Social class and access to postgraduate education in the UK: a sociological......"
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "Wakeling, P. (2010) Inequalities in postgraduate education: a comparative review. In G. Goastellec,......"
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "Wakeling, P. and Kyriacou, C. (2010) Widening Participation from Undergraduate to Postgraduate......"
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "Stuart, M. et al. (2008) Widening participation to postgraduate study: Decisions, deterrents and......"
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "O’Donnell, V. et al. (2009) Transition to postgraduate study: practice, participation and the......"
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012 - "Machin, S. and Murphy, R. (2010) The social composition and future earnings of postgraduates......."
on the cloud WP2PG - Setting the Scene - Paul Wakeling (University of York) by John Rose-Adams on 13 February 2012
