The Contribution Of Higher Education Institutions To Social Mobility. Measures On The Social Dimension For More Inclusive Access And Wider Participation In Higher Education In Austria.
Author(s):
Janine Wulz (submitting) Tanja Bacher (presenting) Sigrid Nindl
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

07 SES 09 A JS, Higher Education (Part 2)

Joint Paper Session NW 07 and NW 22

Time:
2017-08-24
13:30-15:00
Room:
W3.09
Chair:
Yvonne Leeman

Contribution

The social dimension of higher education is discussed in European strategies for more than 15 years. Recent documents strengthened the aim to ensure inclusion in higher education of learners from diverse backgrounds by widening access and providing better social and financial support, more permeability between educational tracks and measures to ensure gender equality as well as inclusion of disabled or disadvantaged learners, migrants and refugees. In 2015 European ministers agreed upon ‘Making our systems more inclusive [as] an essential aim for the EHEA as our populations become more and more diversified, also due to immigration and demographic changes’ (Yerevan Communiqué, 2015).

At the same time, the role of higher education institutions in society is discussed widely by defining universities third mission on the one hand and aiming for excellence at the other hand. Education is considered as vehicle to ensure social mobility, by enabling learners from diverse backgrounds to reach their full potential, leading to reduced social inequality across all society.

Higher education institutions play a key role in the integration of social dimension concepts and thus contribute to a more democratic, equal and inclusive society. Within this paper we will focus on the question, how higher education institutions can contribute to a more equal society by following the European approach towards the social dimension in higher education. Nevertheless it is important to understand higher education as one element within a complex environment of policies and institutions which have to meet the challenge of social inequality.

According to OECD figures Austria is one of the countries with very low social mobility, although participation in education is growing. The contribution of higher education to social equality is analyzed in this paper on the basis of measures implemented at institutional level. This enables in-depth insights in institutional approaches towards the social dimension and helps to identify best practice examples and gaps. More than 250 measures were analyzed in a multi-dimensional model based on three dimensions: The first dimension focuses on the disadvantaged group(s) which were targeted by the institutional measures, based on definitions provided by the Eurostudent survey (e.g. students of a certain gender, first generation students, students with disabilities, chronic or mental illness, students with financial difficulties, …). The second dimension focuses on clustered types of measures (e.g. information and orientation, evaluation, governance, financial support, quality of teaching, …). The third dimension concerns the position of measures within the student-life-cycle (phase before studying, phase at the beginning of the studies, phase during the studies, study completion phase). The (quantitative and qualitative) analysis of measures in the context of this three-dimensional model as well as in-depth case studies provided the basis to elaborate recommendations at institutional and policy level to strengthen the social dimension in higher education in Austria.

Such an analysis of higher education institutions’ measures on the social dimension enables to learn which disadvantaged groups are targeted by institutions and what types of measures are implemented. It allows to identify gaps, best practice examples and to provide recommendations for the future development of measures. The transfer and exchange of best practice examples to other countries will be addressed in future research.

Method

Basis for this paper was a collection and analysis of existing measures on the social dimension in higher education in Austria. Measures were analyzed at ministerial level, higher education institutions and linked institutions (e.g. students unions). The analysis allowed the identification of areas and extent of measures which are already implemented, but also to identify deficits in order to draw conclusions on the further development of existing and new measures. The methodology for this research followed a mixed methods approach. Based on extensive literature review, theoretical and empirical concepts on social dimension of higher education were used to build up a multi-dimensional model for the analysis and systematization of measures. The identified dimensions included target groups of measures, as for example students with disabilities, students from lower socio-economic background, students from migrant backgrounds or students with a specific gender. The second dimension included the type of measure (e.g. counseling, financial support, child care facilities or quality assurance measures). The third dimension took the student life cycle into account and analyzed which phase was targeted by the specific measure (the pre-entry/recruitment/admission-phase; the phase during the study while moving through the courses; and the progression phase, to finalise the programme and transfer to the labour market or further studies). Based upon these dimensions a web-based questionnaire was developed and distributed among Austrian higher education institutions and further relevant stakeholders. More than 50 higher education and linked institutions in Austria (out of approximately 80) participated at the survey. A quantitative data set was built and analyzed. Moreover qualitative case studies were conducted to provide additional insights in functioning and impact of selected measures. Additionally, measures and study outcomes were discussed in stakeholder workshops. While analyzing the descriptions of measures which were provided by institutions, measures were categorized as ‘measures in the narrower sense’, explicitly aiming for social equality objectives and addressing explicitly disadvantaged target groups and as ‘measures in the broader sense’ following a more general approach towards student support, implicitly including social dimension targets. All measures were subject to a three-dimensional matrix analysis providing detailed insights in higher education institutions foci, well developed areas as well as blind spots and underrepresented target groups.

Expected Outcomes

This analysis on measures on the social dimension provides an initial insight into the approaches of Austrian higher education institutions towards social equality in education. Measures for the social dimension in higher education can be found in many different formats. 56 higher education and linked institutions participating in this study described a total of 246 measures. The analysis of the implemented measures shows that the Austrian action landscape is well developed in some areas, but that there are still significant gaps in other areas. More than two thirds of the described measures follow a very general approach to students and their needs: they offer general counselling, information or measures to draw more attention to diversity issues in general. These measures can achieve and support specific social dimension targets, e.g. by improving general counseling and advisory offers for students, or implicitly improve the situation, e.g. by paying more attention to diversity among teachers and students. However, the effectiveness of measures implicitly addressing disadvantaged target groups in terms of widening participation in higher education is difficult to assess. This is also linked to a lack of focus in monitoring and quality assurance measures at higher education institutions. Another gap is the low number of measures aiming for outreach to non-traditional target groups, also outside the university. Other underrepresented areas concern advice and information on funding opportunities, more flexible curricula and recognition of formal / informal / non-formal acquired competences. In general the cross-sectional understanding of social dimension and development of strategic approaches needs further development. Good practices were identified in the area of counseling and information, as well as in child-care facilities and support for disabled students. A number of success factors were identified, including comprehensive counseling and the involvement of peers.

References

Arneson, Richard (2013). Equality of Opportunity: Derivative Not Fundamental. Journal of Social Philosophy, 44: 1–15. BMWF (2010). Dialog Hochschulpartnerschaft. Empfehlungen zur Zukunft des tertiären Sektors. Ergebnisbericht des Dialogs Hochschulpartnerschaft. http://hochschulplan.at/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/E. BMWFW (2015). Der gesamtösterreichische Universitätsentwicklungsplan 2016-2021. http://wissenschaft.bmwfw.gv.at/fileadmin/user_upload/wissenschaft/publikationen/2015_goe_UEP-Lang.pdf. Council of the European Union (2013). Council conclusions on the social dimension of higher education. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/educ/137144.pdf. EHEA Ministerial Conference (2012). Bucharest Communiqué. Making the Most of Our Potential: Consolidating the European Higher Education Area. http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/%281%29/Bucharest%20Communique%202012%281%29.pdf. EHEA Ministerial Conference (2015). Yerevan Communiqué. http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/SubmitedFiles/5_2015/112705.pdf. EUA (2012). Tracking Learners’ and Graduates’ Progression Paths. TRACKIT. http://www.eua.be/Libraries/publications-homepage-list/EUA_Trackit_web.pdf?sfvrsn=0. Hauschildt, Kristina/Gwosc, Christoph/Netz, Nicolai/Mishra, Shweta (2015). Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe. Synopsis of Indicators. Eurostudent V 2012-2015. http://www.eurostudent.eu/download_files/documents/EVSynopsisofIndicators.pdf. Miles, Mathew B./Huberman, A. Michael/Saldana, Johnny (2013). Qualitative Data Analysis. A Methods Sourcebook (3rd edition). Sage Publications. OECD (2016). Education at a Glance 2016: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.187/eag-2016-en. OFFA/HEFCE (2014). National Strategy for Access and Student Success in Higher Education. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/299689/bis-14-516-national-strategy-for-access-and-student-success.pdf. Zaussinger, Sarah/Unger, Martin/Thaler, Bianca/Dibiasi, Anna/Grabher, Angelika et al. (2016). Studierenden-Sozialerhebung 2015: Bericht zur sozialen Lage der Studierenden. Band 1: Hochschulzugang und StudienanfängerInnen. Research Report. IHS. http://www.sozialerhebung.at/index.php/en/studierenden-sozialerhebung-2015-band-1-hochschulzugang-und-studienanfaengerinnen-in-german.

Author Information

Janine Wulz (submitting)
3s
research laboratory
Vienna
Tanja Bacher (presenting)
3s research laboratory
Research & Consulting
Wien
Sigrid Nindl
3s, Austria

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