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The nature of the education offered in prisons varies greatly. Provision can be focused narrowly on limited objectives, such as training for employment or seeking to 'address offending behaviour'. On the other hand, where prison education follows the policies of the Council of Europe or the European Union, which are drawn from the traditions of adult education and life-long learning, it becomes a more comprehensive and transformative experience for men and women held in prison. Underpinning these different approaches are two very different perceptions of those held in prison: one sees merely 'an offender', while the other recognizes 'the whole person' and his or her membership of society. Where narrow and negative concepts of the men and women held in prison prevail, one tends to find severe limitations on the quality and quantity of the education offered. Four such 'curtailments' are discussed.

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Recent years have witnessed considerable growth of research on the benefits of adult learning. Much of this is UK-based, and draws on evidence from large scale longitudinal data sets. Overwhelmingly, these studies have found clear evidence of economic, social and individual benefits as a result of participating in adult learning. While these claims are important and influential ones, there has to date been little discussion of the nature of the data and analytical techniques being used. Nor has there been sufficient attention to the possibility that learning may have negative outcomes. The paper identifies and explores some limitations of longitudinal research in the study of adult learning, but concludes that despite the problems, this body of work still represents an important departure in the field, with considerable international significance.

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This article examines how recent changes, leading to a diversified supply in Kenya’s university education system, is reflected in prospective students’ aspirations, perceptions and preferences to undertake university education. The results, based on a combination of a convenience and snowball sampling of settings, within which random samples of final year high school students were selected, reveal that aspiration to undertake university education is high among all social groups, and that state universities are preferred by a majority of the students in spite of the rapid growth in the number of private universities of acceptable quality. By examining the aspirations of students and college choice, the paper engages the debates around elite vs. massified higher education in Kenya’s context.

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This paper examines the views of staff at higher education institutions on how well 14-19 education and training prepares young people for higher education (HE) study. It draws upon research involving focus groups with approximately 250 academic and admissions staff at 21 higher education institutions in England and Wales. The data collection was conducted between February and June 2005. The paper presents their perceptions of the articulation between 14-19 education and training and higher education. It examines their perceptions of the preparedness of young people to enter HE, and their preparedness to engage with HE. The evidence presented suggests an urgent need for more effective communication between the respective actors and institutions in 14-19 education and training and HE, particularly with regard to approaches to learning.

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This paper has developed from research that the author initiated. The data were derived from an outreach project that aimed to increase awareness of and participation in higher education amongst Muslim women within a major English city. The paper elevates some of the author's findings into a general discussion on the role of higher education (HE) and the paradoxes that are revealed when considering how concepts of widening participation and lifelong learning fit within the HE system. Readers are invited to think of different approaches to widening participation, for example through civic and community engagement, and consider sustained research that relates access to wider debates within the study of HE, such as lifelong learning and civic responsibility.

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In this paper the online construction of disability is investigated and the implications for educators working in virtual worlds are considered. Based on the analysis of data collected through interviews with deaf residents of Second Life, it is argued that research into online identity, disability and education needs to allow room for self-description, and that educators need to recognise the power relations that can lurk within practices of provision or accessibility support. Working through these issues involves reconciling disability studies with e-learning and accessibility perspectives. It is proposed that strategies that would support this reconciliation might be found in recent literature on disability and technology.

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As China has appeared only recently as an important knowledge producer with growing global economic significance, little is known internationally about how these processes develop and are managed within China. The rapidly expanding Chinese higher education system is playing an increasingly important role in China’s knowledge economy and therefore in the global knowledge society. This paper reviews historically the changing role of Chinese universities from the planned economy to the knowledge economy, analyses their contribution of knowledge and knowledge workers, and critically reflects on the mechanisms driving or confining their future contribution to the knowledge economy.

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The new English system of student finance seeks to resolve a higher education policy trilemma created by government's desire to switch more of the costs on to students, whilst seeking to promote both increased and widening participation. The rationale for this new funding system is based upon orthodox economic analysis which, the authors argue, rests upon inappropriate assumptions. Survey evidence from recent entrants is presented to support this critique and to question whether the current system can promote both informed student decision-making and widening participation.

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Access to careers education for young people has been in decline under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government due to changes in regulations and funding. Therefore it has become vital to deliver the commitments made in the Youth Contract to provide careers advice through Jobcentre Plus advisers. At the same time, other policy changes have put Jobcentre Plus advisers increasingly in the role of benefit enforcers. This paper explores how these two roles interact with each other and influence the experience of young people trying to access careers advice. [The authors] propose a framework that would encourage the development of a Jobcentre Plus fit for the purpose of the Youth Contract.

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The concept of the internationalisation of university curricula is being developed with more complex and critical views emphasising the cultural and social aspects of globalisation as well as its economic and political aspects. Putting these ideas into practice however, is a challenge to institutions, since that requires fundamental educational change. This study examines the internationalisation of undergraduate curricula from the viewpoint of institution-wide initiatives drawing on case studies of national and private universities in Japan that are active in this process. Particular attention will be paid to an exploration of the potential gap between the ideas and the practice, and the reasons behind the gap.

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