Expanding or restricting access to tertiary education? A tale of two sectors and two countries

ABSTRACT

This paper examines responses to the trend for increasing participation in tertiary education, linking developments in higher education with those in apprenticeship systems, in Australia and the United Kingdom. In both sectors, expansion proceeded for several decades, but was robustly criticised in both countries. The expansion of access to these two forms of tertiary education, therefore, was contested and potentially precarious. The paper finds, through analysis of official data, that participation in higher education and in apprenticeship was actually almost static, or fell, in both countries in the 2010s. Yet criticism of expansion continued in media commentary during this decade. The paper both explains and takes issue with the arguments against expansion, which have been influential in both sectors. It discusses some ways forward to understand the phenomenon better, and also the need to address the problems caused by the restriction of opportunities. Comparative analysis between the two sectors has not previously been undertaken. It is argued in the paper that such analysis enriches the theoretical lenses through which expansion of access may be viewed, and that it may suggest avenues for future research, and perhaps, for advocacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Apprenticeship policy
• higher education policy
• widening participation

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following for assisting with data extraction and interpretation: Adrian Marshall and Manish Lalwani (Federation University), Olly Newton (Edge Foundation), Jesse Ascensio and Nicole O’Malley (NCVER).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Foundation degrees represent the first two years of a bachelor’s degree, usually in a vocational area, and roughly equate to ‘associate degrees’ in Australia.

Additional information

Funding

There are no competing interests to declare, and the research in this paper was not funded.

Notes on contributors

Erica Smith

Erica Smith is Professor of Vocational Education and Training (VET) at Federation University Australia’s Ballarat campus. Erica is co-chair of INAP, the international apprenticeship research network; and convenor of the Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group (ACDEVEG), leading VET teacher-education developments in Australia. She has managed many national and international research projects in the following main areas: apprenticeship, training policy, training in workplaces, VET teacher-education, competency-based training, and students’ part-time working careers.