Exploring Access and Equity in Higher Education: Policy and Performance in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

A comparative analysis of how access and equity are defined and how policies have evolved reveals a number of commonalities and differences between countries.The overall trend is a movement from the priority given to 'inherited merit' in the admission process through a commitment to formal equality, towards the application of some modes of affirmative action for selected underrepresented groups. This overall convergence, which is accompanied by a growing appreciation of the complexity of social identities, is complemented by significant national specificity in respect of the social categories which are used to define social diversity. In the absence of appropriate comparative measures of participation a Higher Education Participation Index is developed to facilitate cross-country comparisons. A review of current attempts to measure equity in access to higher education points to the need to develop a programme of comparative research which focuses on the social characteristics of students who are currently enrolled in higher education.

National newspaper-reporting on state examinations: An historical exposition of the exceptional case of the Irish Leaving Certificate

“…Relatedly, the available places in the higher education sector were reaching saturation point and competition for places on courses for entry to high-status professions was greater than ever (O'Connell, McCloy & Clancy, 2006;Clancy & Goastellec, 2007). Unofficial league tables of universities in terms of prestige now began to take on a new significance as each institution within the already higher-status university sector began to compete to attract those students with the highest level of achievement in the Leaving Certificate examination.…”

Improving workplace learning

“…The differences between social groups have been treated, in chronological order, in terms of absolute inequality, inequality of access, and inequality of chance (Clancy & Goastellec, 2007). All these labels mainly refer to the existence of a discrepancy between social groups regarding the average level of school instruction that is reached by each of them.…”

“…Clancy and Goastellec (2007) show that moving from access to tertiary education based on inherited merits to equality of access, as it is understood today, has decreased the inequalities but did not eliminate them. For instance, even if some types of qualitative inequalities between women and men were preserved, the social change made the quantitative inequalities disappear (Shavit, 2007).…”

“…The minimal level of formal education which does not lead to marginalization is always changing, gradually moving during the past century from primary to lower secondary and then to higher secondary. On the other hand, the public discourse and the academic debate moved from emphasizing constructed differences between social classes which were induced by "ascribed merits", to considering and promoting equality of access, and, more recently, equality of opportunities (Clancy & Goastellec, 2007).…”

The effect of schools on school leavers’ university participation

“…Clancy and Goastellec (2007) describe how policies of access to HE have shifted from "inherited merit" to a "growing consensus on the need for some form of affirmative action" for selected underrepresented groups (p. 151). Numerous strategies have been developed to try and increase the participation of young people from such underrepresented groups.…”