UK higher education institutes (HEIs) have widened participation of students from non-traditional backgrounds. These include students who are aged over 21, students in paid employment, and those with non-traditional qualifications, perhaps from other countries or access courses. This has led to a need to explore factors that might impact upon the learning of such students. A greater understanding of such factors might better enable HEIs to provide all students with opportunities to study accounting. The participants in this study are first year students studying accounting at a post-1992 UK university, which has a high proportion of students from non-traditional backgrounds. A series of interviews with such students and the lecturers who teach them explores what engages and what detaches them from learning when studying accounting. The study suggests factors, such as employment and other commitments away from university and the student's relationship with the university, which might impact on how students engage in learning. The Note discusses the findings with reference to Lucas's (2003, A National Teaching Fellowship Project: Introductory accounting: Achieving relevance interest and understanding, available at: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/research/research/ntfs/Jan03.pdf accessed 21 August 2004) call for research in the area to be more qualitative and Reay et al's. (2001) Sociological Research Online, 5(4), consideration of Bourdieu's concept of institutional habitus and its influence on HEIs.Widening participation, engagement, habitus,

In emerging economies, tension can arise between the pursuits of economic development to alleviate poverty versus the protection of cultural traditions. In Mongolia, for example, efforts to expand the economy through the development of mineral resources have raised understudied questions about how to accommodate the economic benefits of mining without compromising traditional ways of life. In this case study, we consider the complex and cascading challenges confronting mining, traditional livelihoods, and sustainable development. Semi-structured interviews with 62 participants over a 3-year period were used to investigate the role the corporate strategy of local procurement to create shared value could have in reducing tensions in a remote region where mineral exploration and mine development is underway.The findings provide insight to the barriers and opportunities for company-initiated local procurement practices that contribute to locally led sustainability initiatives and community resilience in emerging economies.