Widening participation in Australian higher education

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) commissioned the Centre for Enterprise (CFE) and Edge Hill University to produce a report on effective approaches to widening participation in six case study countries: the Netherlands, the US, Australia, South Africa, Norway and Ireland. The review was commissioned to inform the national strategy for access and student success which HEFCE and the Office for Fair Access are jointly developing.

This report documents the current approach to widening participation in Australian higher education (as at May 2013). Widening participation policy has a long history in Australian higher education, arguably beginning with the establishment of the nation’s first university (the University of Sydney) in the mid-1800s, which enabled access to higher education for those unable to make the long journey to England in order to take up a university place. The report begins with broad accounts of the Australian education system as backdrop to its higher education sector, before elaborating on widening participation policy and practice. The report concludes with a brief critique of these and potential points of interest for the English context.

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