Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses and analyses global policies and practices aimed at promoting equity in higher education participation and attainment. Although the massification of higher education systems has facilitated the participation of students from deprived backgrounds, socioeconomic inequalities persist in access to the most prestigious institutions and programmes. Privileged students benefit from a number of advantages in the competition for selective and scarce places: access to information, lower aversion to debt, higher expectations, better previous schooling and higher academic achievement. The chapters present a critical analysis of equity policies in different countries – with or without affirmative action policies, within a context of neoliberal policies or within a social democratic model – and the reasons why they have failed to promote equity and fairness, preventing students from achieving their full educational potential.
This is an open access book.
Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.Chapter 2 Equity in Higher Education – theoretical background – Alberto AmaralChapter 3. Access and Inequality in US Higher Education: Policy Issues – David DillChapter 4. The persistence of inequity in Brazilian higher education: background data and student performance - Julio Bertolin and Tristan McCowan Chapter 5. Towards equity: Developing a national approach to improving social justice through higher education in England – Liz ThomasChapter 6. Undergraduate student funding in England: the challenges ahead – Claire CallenderChapter 7. Data and reflections on access-transition to higher education in Portugal – João Baptista, Cristina Sin, Orlanda Tavares Chapter 8. Who is left out? Inequalities in higher education admissions and placements in Portugal - Carla Sá, Orlanda Tavares, Cristina Sin Chapter 9. An equity paradox? The Northern European case - An equity paradox? The Northern European case – Per Olaf AamodtChapter 10. Conclusions – Orlanda Tavares, Cristina Sin, Carla Sá
