Introduction

This chapter examines the benefits and risks of pursuing a university degree and, more specifically, the pros and cons of the emerging widening participation movement (hereafter the WP movement). At first glance, the WP movement seems to be a progressive cause with the objective of encouraging under- represented groups to aspire to a university education. The main issue to be explored concerns the prospects of academic success for individuals underrepresented at university, such as students with disabilities, disadvantaged young people from low- socio- economic- status (SES) neighbourhoods, racial and ethnic minorities, people whose first language is not English, first- in- family to attend university, those with low scores in Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) system, and non- traditional students such as mature- age students.

I discuss the WP movement within the context of the Australian tertiary education system and argue that a university degree confers advantages for individuals and the wider society. However, student experiences at universities in Australia, the United States and the UK suggest that universities do not always conform to what WP advocates promote as the best pathway to success for under- represented groups. Widening participation in higher education (HE) is a hotly contested issue due to disagreements on how to define WP and the different and conflicting ideas between policy discourses and academic practices. According to Stevenson, Clegg and Lefever, the rationale for WP and its successful implementation are determined by the levels of commitment and personal values of an institution's marketing and academic staff. Although their study is limited to a single institution in the UK, their conclusion rings true; that is, WP will remain the preserve of institutional advocates in the absence of an agreed- to policy and philosophical rationale that settles the most important disagreements between the contesting parties.

One way of understanding these disagreements is found in the empowerment versus sociological literature. The empowerment school of thought stresses the negative experiences of non- traditional students with universities being blamed for their difficulties. This was not the case in the present book where student testimonies revealed several factors contributing to their struggles to succeed at university, most importantly, the demands of paid work and study. The empowerment approach – in the intended sense of ‘empowering students’ – tends to ignore sociological factors such as the pre- university experiences of students in their schooling, cultural capital and the influence of peer groups.