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Purpose – The chapter reviews, compares and contrasts the experiences of two neighbouring universities, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, in the introduction, pursuit and institutional embedding of widening participation (WP) policies and programmes.

Methodology/approach – Comparative analysis of, and commentary on, the historical and ongoing experiences of the two universities' WP activities.

Findings – Contextual differences in the missions and roles played by the two universities inevitably mean their experiences have different underlying logics, but in terms of the practical drivers at work and outcomes more subtle similarities are also evident.

Practical implications – Making direct comparisons between the parallel experiences of universities sharing a common geographical setting can be illuminating, as can examples of their joint working and collaboration. Other neighbouring universities could follow suit.

Social implications – The ‘takes’ on WP by different universities inevitably reflect the types of institutions they are and aim to be, but successful WP practices and policy embedding is not the prerogative of any particular university type.

Originality/value of paper – The direct inter-university comparison of WP policy offered here is rare within the literature.

Rashidah N. Andrews is an academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned an Ed.M. in higher education at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education and is currently a doctoral student in educational administration at temple. Before arrival at Temple, Rashidah spent three years as project manager for the Ethnic Minorities Student Achievement Grant (EMSAG) at Halesowen College in England, one year as director of College Retention at a non-profit in Philadelphia and two years as admission counselor at her alma mater. Her research interests include access, retention and persistence of low-income, first-generation students.

The UK private housebuilding sector is the key supplier of new-build homes for customers, constituting a fifth of the entire UK construction industry. Yet, despite the high average cost of houses, and official reports advocating improvement, the sector remains blighted by criticism and a negative image of its quality. However, social media now offers customers new sources of advice and information. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to analyse social media forum posts from new-build homebuyers to reveal perceptions of the industry and illustrate the value of such data for others.

This paper presents and thematically analyses 147 comment posts from nine online Facebook forums under the themes of safety; standards; quality; workmanship; customer service; finance and money; advice; National House Building Council; ombudsman; and page closures.

Customers express frustration, anger, feelings of neglect and of an abdication of responsibility by the sector. Fundamentally, change is suggested at a systemic level, and it is urged this occurs through powerful and independent bodies.

To date, social media data has not been analysed in the context of the housebuilding sector. Yet, such data is key not only for its open and wide-reaching nature but also because it can be incorporated into government reports. It is hoped such data will be used by the new home ombudsman the UK Government hopes to establish in 2020 and help rectify many of the performance issues experienced and protect homebuyers.

Suggests that the practice of law is one of the most regressive profesions in breaking down the white male‐dominated stereotype. State that the hiring practice does not reflect the demographics of law school graduates and that women and minorities often leave the career in the first three years. Explores the current level of discrimination and harassment as well as the steps the legal community has taken to reduce future occurrences. Examines the areas of illegal bias involving race, gender, age and sexual orientation.