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The general context for this paper is access to higher education (HE) in the UK but the particular concern is participation. An important distinction is drawn between access and participation. The heterogeneous characteristics of HE and the complex choice processes of applicants mean that a finer level of description and analysis is required which goes beyond aggregate measures of access and examines the extent and the nature of participation. Equality of opportunity provides the underpinning for this paper, access to HE is the starting point, the focus is on participation and the approach is empirical and pragmatic. In 2002, the target for access to UK HE was set at 50 percent, which requires attention to shift from broad measures of access towards detailed measures of participation; particularly when the agenda is one of social inclusion, and when certain groups within society are still significantly under‐represented and disadvantaged at the level of participation.

Illustrates the way in which, within the current debate about widening the participation rates of under‐represented groups in higher education, the situation of people with disabilities has tended to be overlooked by commenting in detail on three recent policy documents. Also interprets these to suggest how their recommendations might offer improved opportunities to this disadvantaged group: finance is identified as a major obstacle whether funding individual students and funding the institutions where they study. Discusses the current methods of providing money, outlining the shortcomings of the allowances made to students and indicating the costs to an institution of developing quality provision using the case study of a polytechnic. Suggests how widening the participation of people with disabilities might be accomplished.

The purpose of this paper is to address the fact that under current Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funding guidelines, diagnostic assessments for apprentices with additional learner needs are deemed an ineligible cost, which has the potential to reduce access to additional funding and support.

The approach of this paper is to critically evaluate the surrounding literature, government reports and Mencap review produced since the apprenticeship levy and present the implications of these funding guidelines relating to access to apprenticeships and the practical effects of apprentice’s experience and development.

The finding presented by this paper is that the definition of diagnostic assessments as an ineligible cost reduces the quality of training delivered by providers and assurances to apprentices that they will be fully supported from the start of their training.

The limitation of this research was the minimal amount of government/ESFA documentation addressing this subject within apprenticeships.

The practical implications of this paper relate to the on-going delivery of apprenticeship training in the UK, and the detrimental effect of reducing access to diagnostic assessments for apprentices with undiagnosed additional learner needs under the current wording of the Education Skills Agency guidance.

The government policy is currently under review to address this area which is considered an ineligible cost for supporting apprentices with recognised additional learner needs.

The value of this paper is to align with recent Mencap review and collaboratively readdress the ESFA’s current positioning of diagnostic assessments for apprentices with undiagnosed learning difficulties and disabilities as an ineligible cost and non-standardised requirement.

In an uncertain and competitive higher educational landscape, expedient management of professional capital could increase knowledge capital by ensuring the recruitment and retention of experienced and highly qualified academic staff. In this paper, a case study of a private university aims to evaluate the talent management of academic staff.

Primary datum amongst academic staff was collected using an online survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of interviews and descriptive analysis of three forms of survey were triangulated for richer data.

Most of the academic staff in this private university were intrinsically motivated and there was a low expectation to be active in research and publication. However, bibliometrics was a priority amongst senior academics interviewed. The lack of talent management in bibliometric profiles expressed by senior academics hamper academic progression and could contribute to high turnover intentions as push factors. Overall, there were no explicit talent management strategies by management identified.

This is a small-scale research project.

Management should explore various options for structuring career paths within the organisational structure to secure career commitment of the employees. Within private universities, this could take the form of secondments to industry as part of work-based learning projects which could then also result in research and publication.

Private universities widen the access to higher education and as such are an important research focus for improvements in quality and the retention of staff.

Research of staff talent management in a UK private university.

The purpose of this paper is to report results from an evaluation of an online abstract mentoring programme to support early career and less experienced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) researchers improve their chances of acceptance to International HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Conferences.

An evaluation study was conducted on the impact of this programme over two conferences. Survey questionnaires also gathered data on the perceptions of users and mentors on the value of online mentoring.

Results from the evaluation show that online mentoring increased the motivation and acceptance rate of early career and less experienced researchers, especially from low‐ and middle‐income countries.

This study shows that the use of online mentoring at a distance can make access to desirable literacy practices for researchers’ professional development more equitable, and enhance the added value of informal learning in today's lifelong learning context. It also shows a cost‐effective way to use technology to widen participation of early career researchers from resource‐limited settings, and improve their understanding of the practice of writing up and publishing research for competitive international conferences or journals.

With a situated and constructivist view of online teaching and learning, the paper considers the implications for redesigning future global conferences as collaborative capacity‐building spaces, via the use of Web 2.0 technologies.

This paper provides research capacity builders with insights into the use of online mentoring to not only build writing skills, but also to enhance the induction of novices into a global learning community. It aims to inform decision makers of issues in effective online mentoring design to consider for impact and quality.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have substantial social, economic and environmental impacts. Yet there is limited research that examines their sustainability performance. This paper aims to investigate the factors that are associated with sustainability performance in HEIs. Specifically, drawing from the stakeholder theory and exploiting Ullmann’s (1985) conceptual framework, this study examines the association between sustainability performance and stakeholder power, strategic posture and financial slack resources.

The authors draw the sample from the People & Planet University Green League Table for the period 2011–2019 and use the generalised estimating equations for the modelling approach.

This study finds that stakeholder power, in particular, funding grant income, tuition fee income and student and staff numbers, are positively associated with sustainability performance. In relation to strategic posture, this study finds that sustainability performance is negatively associated with governing body independence and gender diversity, and positively associated with internal structures. Finally, regarding financial slack resources, this study finds that surplus income (staff costs) is positively (negatively) associated with sustainability performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research contributes to several existing literature focusing on the not-for-profit sector by documenting, for the first time, the role of stakeholder power, strategic posture and slack financial resources on sustainability performance.

The paper includes relevant implications for HEI managers and regulators for promoting sustainability.

These results contribute to the literature on the factors influencing sustainability performance.

This paper aims to explore the influence of primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders on developing enterprising graduates in UK higher education institutions (HEIs).

Longitudinal telephone surveys were conducted annually over a ten‐year period (2000 to 2009) to document and analyse a total of 331 stakeholders' influence on developing enterprising graduates in UK HEIs.

The findings highlighted a number of interesting trends relating to their involvement in, and impact on, entrepreneurship education provision in UK HEIs. A wide range of stakeholders can influence the development of enterprising graduates. Primary stakeholders, such as students, teaching and research staff, managers and administrators emerged as most influential in the development of enterprising graduates. Their influence, representing both the demand and supply sides of entrepreneurship education, was significant and directly relevant to the development of enterprising graduates in UK HEIs.

The results emerging from this longitudinal research study provide valuable stakeholder perspectives into the development of enterprising graduates in UK HEIs. Policy makers should use these findings to inform relevant entrepreneurship education policies and initiatives, focus them on the specific needs of UK students and ensure that scarce resources are targeted efficiently to develop successful graduate entrepreneurs.

This study provides an empirically rigorous insight into stakeholder involvement in developing enterprising graduates in the UK. It provides valuable longitudinal data relating to the influence of a wide range of stakeholders on the development of enterprising graduates in UK HEIs.

To date, few universities have been involved in the Government‐funded drive to expand higher apprenticeships across England. Universities have a track record of expertise and innovation in professional and work‐based learning that can significantly contribute to the higher‐level skills agenda and could have a pivotal role in the rapidly growing initiative to develop higher apprenticeship programmes. The purpose of this paper is to outline the potential contribution universities could make to higher apprenticeship and the potential barriers to university engagement.

The paper provides an analysis of skills and higher education policy, initiatives and related research in England as the context for university involvement in higher apprenticeship. A case study is used to illustrate the benefits of and barriers to university involvement, including an uneven funding policy playing field for universities and misconceptions regarding professional competence and practice‐based higher‐level learning.

The paper illustrates the potential benefits university involvement in higher apprenticeship could deliver for employers and learners by supporting individual career progression and social mobility, and by providing employers and employees with clear and cost effective work‐based pathways to management roles. It concludes that the current barriers to university involvement may result in a missed opportunity to maximise value from public investment in the workforce development expertise of universities, redeployed to realise higher apprenticeship innovation.

The authors believe this paper is the only academic analysis of the value of and barriers to university involvement in the current Westminster Government flagship Higher Apprenticeship programme. The case study included has not featured in any other academic journal.

The Centre for Community and Lifelong Learning (CCLL) at the University of Wales, Newport has been offering a Summer School Scheme for community based students since August 2008. This, as an intervention strategy within a widening access framework, offers a “university experience”, whereby students and their families are given the opportunity to study and enjoy a short experience on a university campus – some families being offered residential places. The aim of the paper is to introduce data collected which shows how this summer school challenges the barriers that are often associated with campus provision.

In this paper the authors will introduce data collected through an ethnographic, mixed methods approach which shows how this summer school challenges the barriers that are often associated with campus provision, such as perception of academic institutions and personal ability.

The Summer School also offers many community students a significant opportunity to realise self potential within a campus context but within a supportive and familial framework. What continues to make this event all the more “unique” is that, from the developments of the first event, there is a growing recognition of the importance of the family dimension to the summer school.

Gorard et al. suggest that the early experiences of families can deeply imbed a reluctance to enter into post‐school learning and as such can be transmitted across the family and through generations. This is supported by Chowdry et al. who suggest that “poor attainment in secondary schools is more important in explaining lower HE participation rates amongst students from disadvantaged backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry into HE”.