Paper This paper has developed from widening participation research that the author was involved with. The data was derived from a community outreach project that aimed to increase awareness of and participation in higher education (HE) amongst Muslim women within a major English city. The aim was, through part-time study in community locations, to offer first year degree level modules that would encourage students to taste university study at a flexible times and at a pace to suit individuals. The research utilised a grounded (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) approach in developing an understanding of the issues that emerged when engaged in this type of activity; in terms of student participation, the HE institutions and the community organisations involved. Although the focus of the project was homogenous in terms of the student profile, what emerged from the research was complex and heterogeneous data that could be compared to similar widening participation interventions across other student profiles at the same time, all funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The results from the “Widening Participation for Muslim Women Project”, when compared to many other project outcomes, highlighted a strong set of generic indicators and interrelated issues across many of the initiatives, sometimes revealing underlying paradoxes in terms of the way in which higher education provision is developing in the United Kingdom. Paradoxes that expose the need for a wider debate on how these challenges are met. The paper elevate some of the author’s findings into a general and more theoretical discussion on the role of higher education in the twenty-first century, and highlight some of the paradoxes revealed when considering how concepts of widening participation and lifelong learning fit within the HE system. The paper will show how similar concerns have been raised by other authors and commentators in the fields of widening participation and lifelong learning. Such dilemmas include providing genuine access and flexibility, changing concepts of knowledge and their recognition, funding and resources, local and international outlooks, financial pressures on poorer students, structural and systematic barriers, and how an elite system provides mass higher education. These challenges remain unresolved and are sometimes hindered by a lack of articulation between practice, policy and theory. The paper also invites the reader to think of different approaches to widening participation, for example through civic and community engagement, and calls for sustained and articulated research that relate access and inclusion to wider issues within the study of HE; such as lifelong learning, adult education, work-based and flexible learning. In addition it calls for interdisciplinary research across other fields; for example sociology, history, economics and public policy.

Grounded. Interviews, diaries, questionnaires, reports.

The revelation of generic paradoxes and dilemmas that HE need to face up to when considering future provision.