Mainstreaming Equity, Opportunity and Success in Higher Education

When: April 14, 2010 - April 15, 2010

Where: Holiday Inn, Lime Street
Liverpool, L1 1NQ

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Conference overview

This two day international conference in central Liverpool is organised by the Widening Participation Research Centre at Edge Hill University. It aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, institutional staff and managers and policy makers from the UK and beyond to learn from each other about mainstreaming equity, opportunity and success in higher education.

On Day One there will be research-based key note presentations from international and national leaders in the field. There will also be research and evidence-informed paper and poster sessions. Day 2 will take the form of an international symposium, examining in-depth institutional approaches to mainstreaming equity, opportunity and success in higher education and beyond.

The conference is immediately preceded by an Inaugural Professorial Lecture to be delivered by Dr Liz Thomas. The Lecture will be directly relevant to the conference theme, as Liz has been researching this, and related topics, for over ten years.

Conference theme

This conference explores the response of, and impact on, higher education institutions (HEIs) to greater student diversity, in particular, the ways in which institutions have mainstreamed and embedded widening participation, equity, opportunity and success. The conference theme is informed by a number of key principles:

• HEIs want to admit the best students possible to their courses and programmes, irrespective of background or circumstances.
• HEIs have a responsibility to ensure all their students are as successful as possible, irrespective of background or circumstances.
• Success is defined broadly to include academic and social engagement, effective learning and development, retention, achievement and progression beyond higher education.
• Many institutions want to change themselves to further promote and enable student diversity and success.
• A transformative approach to change values diversity and uses it as a positive force to inform all aspects of the institution’s work.
• When equity, opportunity and success are mainstreamed, an institution’s processes and cultures are inclusive and effective. The needs, interests and values of diverse students are proactively met and not subsumed.
• It is appropriate, useful and cost effective for staff and units concerned with widening access and participation; improving student experiences, retention and success; and disability, equality and diversity to work together and maximise their impact.

This conference will draw on international and national research, developmental work and evidence informed experience to explore the theory and practice concerned with institutional transformation to mainstream equity, opportunity and success in higher education and beyond.

For further details of the conference please go to www.edgehill.ac.uk .

Alternatively you can contact Angela Daly ange...@edgehill.ac.uk or Julia Clarke juli...@edgehill.ac.uk

Website: http://www.actiononaccess.org/index.php?p=2_3_2&id=356

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