A presentation given to the Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education: Access after the White Paper (WP2PG) Conference, 16 February 2012.
Twitter #WP2PG
Similar a Setting the Scene - Opening Remarks at the Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education: Access after the White Paper Conference, 16 February 2012
Similar a Setting the Scene - Opening Remarks at the Widening Participation to Postgraduate Education: Access after the White Paper Conference, 16 February 2012 (20)
2. #WP2PG
Setting the scene
Paul Wakeling
Department of Education
University of York
paul.wakeling@york.ac.uk
3. #WP2PG
The White Paper and PG access
• Change and continuity in the White Paper
• Unanticipated consequences?
• “Making policy in the dark”
4. #WP2PG
Why does PG access matter?
• Social justice
• Economic argument
– Private
– Public
• The future academic workforce
5. UK Student Numbers by Level, 1960 - 2010
3,000,000
2,500,000
Number of students
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Undergraduate Postgraduate
6. #WP2PG
Postgraduates - complexity
• Field of study
• Institutional location
• Purpose and type
• Funding, mode of study etc. etc.
7. #WP2PG
Inequalities
• More data, please
– But not for gender
• Inequality is U-shaped…
• Ethnicity, disability, horizontal stratification
8. #WP2PG
Transitions
• Money, money, money?
• How does it all work anyway?
• Outreach/inreach?
11. #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.
