The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture

The contention of this lively collection of essays is that WP has become part of the ‘normal business’ of HE providers during the past 25 years. This is a lively account of the drivers of WP since the Dearing Review and the implementation of the social justice policies since that time. There is extensive use of policy documents from Government bodies such as HEFCE and OFFA as well as the academic literature, enabling a focus on the sometimes discordant relationship between Government, still the primary funder of undergraduate HE in England and autonomous, but dependent, universities. This highly readable book will be of great interest and value to policy makers, practitioners, researchers and historians of widening participation as well as to the many thousands of graduates who have benefitted from opportunity not afforded to those who went before.

This is an exciting, must-read, timely and thoughtful collation of historical and contemporary insights of what it means to increase participation in a neoliberal market system. A stellar cast of policy and academic voices make sense of the dynamics of markets, businesses, student choice and widening participation. The book is essential for those already working in English HE in policy or academic roles related to widening participation. Those in continental European systems and elsewhere who are wondering what the outcomes of shifts from public to market funded higher education might mean must look no further than this book to understand the impact on students and providers.

A comprehensive policy history of widening participation in UK higher education and exploration of how that policy has translated into institutional practices in different contexts, this timely work offers new analysis to academics familiar with the field and to practitioners who may be less so.

• | Author: Colin McCaig, Ruth Squire, Jon Rainford
• | Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• | Publication Date: Oct 10, 2022
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9781800430501
• | ISBN-10: 1800430507