access or excess?

27 March 2014 University of Ghent

“Access or excess?”

Dr. Dominic Orr

Seminar seriesHigher Education: Global challenges and multi-disciplinary perspectives

2Orr | Access or excess…

Outline of talk

A: Excess – ever-bigger higher education systems

B: Access – selection and fairness

1. Growth according to UOE international statistics2. World polity theory – growth everywhere as global programme3. What is a big higher education system?4. A look at personal gains

1. Regulation of higher education entry in comparison2. Second chance routes3. Participative equity according to EUROSTUDENT statistics4. Four phases of participative equity5. Interventions used to improve participative equity


A - Excess


2000-2005 2005-2010100%

105%

110%

115%

120%

125%

130%

135%

140%

122%

108%

averageQ1medianQ3

A1 - Growth according to UOE international statistics (students of tertiary education)

• Significant growth in most higher education systems* – slowing slightly since 2005

Source: UOE-Data set, data from following countries – AU, AT, CA, CL, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IS, IE, IL, IT, JP, KR, MX, NL, NZ, NO, PL, PT, SK, ES, SE, LH, TR, UK, US, BR, RU (main exception AT, with +43% growth 2005-2010)


A2 - World polity theory (John W. Meyer)… growth everywhere as global programme“The sheer levels of enrollments – 80% in some European countries and

well into double-digits within some agricultural Sub-Saharan nations – hint that educational expansion may be sharply decoupled from real

economic demand.”

Source: Krücken, G., & Drori, G. S. (Eds.). (2009). World Society: The writings of John W. Meyer. Oxford University Press.

• Argues against the functionalist justification for expansion.• From the 1960s he sees a new model in which education is

seen as cause, rather than a functional consequence, of

economic growth and change.• He problematises: a worldwide ideological agreement that

education is a main source of social progress, but the

character of the link is very unclear. This is a situation that

generates the rapid diffusion of fashionable models of what

an educational system should look like.


A3 - What is a big higher education system?

• E.g. South Korea – 2.5 million or 4 million students?• E.g. State Secretary Portugal – to achieve ET2020 goal of 40% with

higher education, growth using short-cycle courses in UAS/polytechnic sector

• General questions:- What is a student? (e.g. full- and part-time)- What is higher education? (in comparison to vocational education)- What is a HEI? (differences between unis/HEIs, e.g. universities and

polytechnics, and stratification)

“We are not the third level of secondary schooling”(German rector of University of Leipzig, Annual Conference German

Rectors’ Conference on Project nexus, 25.3.14)


A4 - A look at personal gains – most people (still) benefit

Source: Eurydice, E., Eurostat, Eurostudent, & Eurydice Eurostat Eurostudent. (2012). The European higher education area in 2012 - Bologna Process Implementation Report. EACEA.

Higher education qualification not financially beneficial for everyone! However, there are other

benefits…


A – Excess?

• Well – higher education is certainly changing• But this should be thought of a process of differentiation• Certainly – we must keep asking what higher education and

higher learning is – and how to assure this


B - Access


Entry exam

Vocational profile

Higher Education Entry

Upper Secondary Schooling(ISCED 3A)

Academic profile

Exam for (almost all)

Special exam for few

B1 - Regulation of higher education entry in comparison – there is always selection somewhere

Transition points = points of selection (and decision)

How did you get into higher education?


B1 – Regulation…through link between leaving school certificate and entrance qualification for HE

Orr, D., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2014). “Second chance” routes into higher education: Sweden, Norway and Germany compared. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(1), 45–61.

entitlement model

examination model, i.e. use of hard or soft criteria to determine entrance to HE


Lower secondary schooling(ISCED 2), or lower

Adult education and further education APR

Vocational profile

Higher Education Entry

Upper Secondary Schooling(ISCED 3A)

Academic profile

Exam for (almost all)

Special exam for few

Second chance routesB2 – Second chance routes

Entry exam


B3 - Participative equity according to EUROSTUDENT statistics (the indicators)

Share of students whose parents have low school-leaving qualifications as highest attainment

Share of population, who could be students’ parents, withlow school-leaving qualifications

Goal: 1:1 (not lower, but expect under-representations)

Goal: 1:1 (not higher, but expect over-representations)

Share of students whose parents have academic (higher ed) qualifications as highest attainment

Share of population, who could be students’ parents, withacademic (higher ed) qualifications

10%

40%

60%

30%

Indicators for HE access are always relative (context-related)


B3 - Participative equity according to EUROSTUDENT statistics (the results)

Orr, D.; Gwosc, C. & Netz, N. (2011). Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe. WBV.


B4 – Four phases of participative equity

Before entry to higher education: Characteristic: qualifying and decision-making stage.SD goal: to raise aspirations

Graduation and transition: Characteristic: transition into labour market or further educational trainingSD goal: to secure a successful transition (and perhaps to raise aspirations)

Study framework:

Characteristic: study progression and completion, study-work-life balanceSD goal: (i) to ensure students’ learning progress and (ii) to reduce impact of students’ need to balance the resources of time and money on students’ success, i.e. to improve retention and success

At entry to higher education: Characteristic: selective stageSD goal: widening access

Concept used in project PL4SD – see website www.pl4sd.eu for more information

http://www.pl4sd.eu/


Before entry to higher education:

• Campaigns targeting parents on benefits of HE

• School liaison officers to raise aspirations of school-leavers

Graduation and transition:

• Career advice• Internships• Special final

year grants

Study framework:

• Modularised courses and cumulative credit acquisition

• New pedagogical approaches

• Financial support of students

• Student counselling, advising and coaching and buddy systems

• Incentives for HEIs to recruit and support non-traditional students

At entry to higher education:

• Remedial classes and summer schools

• APL and contextualised applications and other second chance routes

PL4SD Interim Conference: 2.4.2014 in Vienna

Demographic changes; lifelong learning

Premium funding for non-traditional students

e.g. in Germany arbeiterkind.de

Also using blended learning

B5 – Interventions used to improve participative equity


B – Access?

• Demography and lifelong learning means that access is probably widening anyway – effective higher education provision can only be assured by realising this

• However, special attention should be paid to underrepresented groups

• If higher education is so important, all motivated persons should have the chance (and a second chance) to participate – participative equity is necessary


Outline of talk

A: Excess – ever-bigger higher education systems

B: Access – selection and fairness

1. Growth according to UOE international statistics2. World polity theory – growth everywhere as global programme3. What is a big higher education system?4. A look at personal gains

1. Regulation of higher education entry in comparison2. Second chance routes3. Participative equity according to EUROSTUDENT statistics4. Four phases of participative equity5. Interventions used to improve participative equity