Start: 2012-02-16 10:00:00 > End: 2012-02-16 15:30:00
Location: Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London, UK
Contact: Dawn Patton
Contact link: cic-wp-research-seminars@open.ac.uk
16 February 2012, Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London, UK
#WP2PG
In a House of Lords debate in October 2011 on the impact of Government policy on universities, peers commented that the Higher Education White Paper Students at the Heart of the System, “completely neglected…postgraduate studies”, that there “is a serious threat to graduate schools” and that it seems “inevitable that the postgraduate landscape will shift significantly as a result…of the heavy indebtedness of future undergraduates”. Government response in that debate was thin, Baroness Verma offering “We will continue to monitor the impact of our student finance reforms on postgraduate studies”.
The mission to widen participation in higher education to correct for historic and systemic under-representation of certain groups in society is undiminished in its critical importance, a decade-and-a-half of hard effort notwithstanding. Yet evidence and debate on widening participation to postgraduate provision remains sparse, to say the least.
At a time when the consequences of seismic change to the English undergraduate higher education sector are relatively unknown, careful consideration needs to be given to potential effects on postgraduate education.
This timely one day conference aims:
- To present important and innovative research in widening access to and participation in UK postgraduate study:
- what do we already know about access to postgraduate study?
- what research about postgraduates is currently being undertaken?
- To identify implications of current research and knowledge for:
- Government policy on postgraduate education
- Institutional practice in postgraduate education and widening participation
- To engender and develop collaboration and peer support
Research will be presented and debate encouraged around the following themes:
- Widening access to postgraduate education for UK students, including institutional and mission group differences
- The case for widening access to postgraduate study: social justice or economic imperative?
- Transitions to postgraduate higher education