Access and geopolitics: Next steps in tackling the equity crisis in global Higher Education

A free one-day hybrid research conference hosted by WAHEN, CGHE and SKOPE.

Across the world, policies promoting equitable access to higher education are facing a populist backlash. Existing inequalities are themselves fuelling suspicion and resentment of equity and diversity policies. At the same time fewer than 20% of states have specific policies or have set targets for tackling inequalities in participation, progression and success. Fewer still are addressing the needs of the most marginalised, such as people with disabilities. The costs of funding fair access initiatives are often prohibitive, and the rise of private HE provision presents new challenges.

This one day fully-hybrid research workshop, to be held either at Ruskin College, Oxford or in the Department of Education, will bring together scholars working on equitable access, participation and progression within higher education from across the globe.

The event will have more than 30 presentations on the following topics, as well as a series of keynotes and a plenary conversation

1. The politics – and geopolitics – of widening participation
2. The challenge of financing access
3. Private provision and higher education as a public good
4. Populism and the equity ‘backlash’
5. The challenge of generating meaningful participation data.

Keynotes from:

Dr Jamil Salmi, Global Tertiary Education Expert

Professor Shamit Saggar, Executive Director of Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success

Professor Rachel Brooks, Professor of Higher Education, University of Oxford & President of British Sociological Association

Dr James Robson, Director of the Centre for Skills, Knowledge, and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) & Associate Professor of Tertiary Education Systems, University of Oxford

Professor Graeme Atherton, Director of the World Access to Higher Education Network (WAHEN), Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor of University of West London & Vice-Principal, Ruskin College, Oxford

To register to attend, online or F2F, please book here