Making the invisible, visible: disability in South African distance education [Scholarly Article - Distance Education, November 2022]

Title:

Making the invisible, visible: disability in South African  distance education

 

Authors:

Paul Prinsloo & Chinaza Uleanya

 

Published:

Distance Education, Volume 43, Issue 4, 14 November 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01587919.2022.2144139 

Abstract:

Distance education celebrates its humanitarian mission of providing opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized individuals who do not have access to traditional campus-based higher education. Large enrolments of students necessitate an industrialized approach in planning, design, and delivery informed by a normative assumption of ableism. In the context of post-apartheid South Africa, distance education fulfills a particular important role in ensuring access to education for all. This scoping review addressed two questions: “What is currently known, in the context of distance education in South Africa, about the educational experiences of SWDs?” and “How should we understand and respond to these experiences?” The scoping study shows, inter alia, that while there is an institutional commitment to providing equitable learning experiences, the lived experiences of students with disabilities provide evidence of their invisibility in the design, planning, and delivery of learning. The study concludes with some recommendations and provocations.

 

Understanding and managing identity: working-class students at the University of Oxford [Scholarly Article - Journal of Further and Higher Education, October 2021]

Title:

Understanding and managing identity: working-class students at the University of Oxford 

 

Author:

Éireann Attridge

Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

 

Published:

Journal of Further and Higher Education, 13 October 2021

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1985979

 

Abstract:

This study aims to add to the literature that explores the experiences of working-class students within elite higher education institutions. It has been undertaken at a time when there is a shift in higher education policy around access and widening participation: from applications and admissions to supporting students throughout the entire lifecycle. Considering the focus of such policy on upward intergenerational social mobility, it explores students’ experiences through the lens of identity, considering Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital. Fifteen undergraduate students, who self-defined as working-class and attended the University of Oxford participated in semi-structured narrative interviews. It was found that working-class students appear to continue to face disadvantage during their time at university. Participants often encountered academic and social situations which served to reinforce ideas of a typical Oxford student, which they perceived as not being inclusive of their working-class identity.

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators / Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores [Scholarly Article - ess, May 2021]

Title:

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators

Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores

 

Authors:

Ana García de Fanelli

Senior Research Scholar of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in the Higher Education Department of the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Senior Professor at the University of Buenos Aires

&

Cecilia Adrogué

Assistant Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Argentina in the Department of Economics of the University of San Andrés

 

Published:

Educatión Superior y Sociedad (ess), Volume 3, Number 1, 1 May 2021

https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/ess/index.php/ess3/article/view/339

 

Abstract:

This paper analyzes equity indicators in higher education in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay during the stages of secondary school completion, access, persistence and graduation from higher education, and advanced human capital formation. Among the findings, note that lower-income sectors’ main barrier to access higher education is the completion of secondary school. Although higher education rates show access gaps according to the socioeconomic level, social inequality is reduced in Argentina and Uruguay when these rates are calculated among secondary school graduates. All three countries reveal higher dropout rates in the lower-income sectors and among first-generation students in Argentina and Uruguay. Low graduation, especially in Uruguay and Argentina, has a negative impact on the proportion of the adult population with complete higher education. The analysis of this indicator by socioeconomic level shows considerable inequity gaps. Finally, the set of indicators examined reveals that women in the three countries outperform men in secondary completion, enrollment, persistence and graduation rates from higher education, and in the proportion of young people with complete higher education.

 

Note:

Article is in Spanish

 

KENYA: Experts list radical measures to revive higher education

Protus Onyango reports that "experts are calling for radical changes in financing of higher education to ensure access for all and improve quality. Besides a review of the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) policies, they say funding of universities should be pegged on institutions, performance."

Published in Standard Digital on 11 May 2019.

To read the short article:
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001324969/radical-measures-to-revive-kenya-higher-education

REPORT: Higher Education for Third Country National and Refugee Integration in Southern Europe

Title: Higher Education for Third Country National and Refugee Integration in Southern Europe: TandEM - Towards Empowered Migrant Youth in Southern Europe

Author: Henriette Stoeber

Published: May 2019

Stoeber describes this study as follows:

The comparative, cross-country study reviews the links between integration and higher education policies. It documents the conditions and circumstances for access, retention and completion of higher education for migrants from third countries, including those with a refugee status.

Concrete recommendations to remove barriers and to promote integration are provided for the European and national policy levels, as well as for higher education institutions.

To download this report, go to:

https://eua.eu/resources/publications/848:higher-education-for-third-country-national-and-refugee-integration-in-southern-europe.html