Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education Access after the White Paper

16 February 2012Royal Institute of British Architects

Twitter hashtag

#WP2PG

Cloudworks site

http://bit.ly/y23Dhy

#WP2PG

Setting the scene

Paul WakelingDepartment of Education

University of York

paul.wakeling@york.ac.uk

#WP2PG

The White Paper and PG access

• Change and continuity in the White Paper

• Unanticipated consequences?

• “Making policy in the dark”

#WP2PG

Why does PG access matter?

• Social justice

• Economic argument– Private– Public

• The future academic workforce

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 20100

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

UK Student Numbers by Level, 1960 - 2010

Undergraduate Postgraduate

Year

Nu

mb

er

of

stu

den

ts

#WP2PG

Postgraduates - complexity

• Field of study

• Institutional location

• Purpose and type

• Funding, mode of study etc. etc.

#WP2PG

Inequalities

• More data, please– But not for gender

• Inequality is U-shaped…

• Ethnicity, disability, horizontal stratification

#WP2PG

Transitions

• Money, money, money?

• How does it all work anyway?

• Outreach/inreach?

#WP2PG

What are we going to do about it?

#WP2PG

#WP2PG

Further reading• House, G. (2010) Postgraduate Education in the United Kingdom. Oxford: HEPI and the British

Library• Lindley, J. and Machin, S. (2011) Rising Wage Inequality and Postgraduate Education. Centre

for Economic Performance Discussion Paper 1075. London: LSE.• Machin, S. and Murphy, R. (2010) The social composition and future earnings of

postgraduates. London: Sutton Trust.• O’Donnell, V. et al. (2009) Transition to postgraduate study: practice, participation and the

widening participation agenda. Active Learning in Higher Education, 10 (1): 26 – 40.• Stuart, M. et al. (2008) Widening participation to postgraduate study: Decisions, deterrents

and creating success. York: Higher Education Academy.• Wakeling, P. and Kyriacou, C. (2010) Widening Participation from Undergraduate to

Postgraduate Research Degrees. NCCPE and ESRC: Swindon.• Wakeling, P. (2010) Inequalities in postgraduate education: a comparative review. In G.

Goastellec, ed. Understanding Inequalities in and by Higher Education, (pp. 61 - 74). Rotterdam: Sense.

• Wakeling, P. (2009) Social class and access to postgraduate education in the UK: a sociological analysis, PhD thesis, University of Manchester.