New global network on widening access in HE is launched

Academics and stakeholders representing higher education and universities from around the world have launched the first global network dedicated to addressing inequalities in access and achievement in higher education.

The World Access to Higher Education Network (WAHEN) comprises members from universities, foundations, and NGOs, as well as policy-makers in a collaboration to tackle deep-rooted disparities in higher education globally.

The launch and accompanying conference, which coincided with Human Rights Day and was held at Ruskin College in Oxford, was attended by participants from around the world, in person and online, to hear how countries are battling with continuing challenges to the creation of diverse and inclusive student bodies in higher education, including the rise in populism, which threatens to undermine existing strategies to improve access and equity.

A new vision for global higher education

WAHEN’s vision is that everyone, regardless of background, should benefit from participation in higher education.

Professor Graeme Atherton, director of the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON), which convenes WAHEN, said: “The launch of WAHEN is a call to action for everyone who believes in the transformative power of education. The right to higher education should be universal, not conditional.

“Through global collaboration, we can dismantle the barriers that perpetuate inequality and build a future where higher education is a pathway to opportunity for all, not a privilege for the few.”

The network’s activities will include:

• Capacity Building: Facilitating equity in higher education through the sharing, professionalisation, and enhancement of practice in learning, teaching, access, student success and completion, and pre-higher education outreach.

• Collaboration: Enabling and leading new partnerships between organisations, working together on a global basis to achieve shared goals around equity in higher education.

• Convening: Bringing together those from across countries and sectors to affect change in higher education equity.

• Advocacy: Advocating for and working with policymakers and governments around the world to make higher education more equitable.

• Critical Thinking: Developing and disseminating knowledge on “what works” to inform effective equity practices worldwide.

Atherton told participants attending the launch of WAHEN that the organisation would provide a space for higher education to come together to tackle both individual and national obstacles to access and quality, but also the bigger global challenge of “intransigent issues”.

These include race, gender, sexual orientation, poverty and disadvantage, and personal student circumstances.

“There are many networks that exist in higher education and outside of higher education, and they make a valuable contribution. But we want to challenge and disrupt and look at things in a different way, if we can,” he said.

One of these ways was to adapt to the changing ways in which young people communicate to offer help and support, and to respond to the challenges they face.

“Those of you with teenage children will recognise the problems, as they stare meaningfully into a phone for hours on platforms I’ve yet to understand or know about and look at me like I’m a Luddite,” he said.

“The challenge for us is that our students communicate in different ways, and we have to shape a network that can engage with them.”

The threat of populism

Fabrizio Mejia, acting vice-chancellor for equity and inclusion at the Center for Educational Equity and Excellence, University of California (UC), Berkeley, spoke of the threat of populism in the United States, particularly to universities which had active strategies to widen participation and tackle inequality for people who are first-generation students, former convicts, and young people raised in care.

He said membership of WAHEN would support the university in tackling the political threats, as well as providing a “constant renewal of how we do things”.

“Diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) are under attack, and Berkeley is particularly under the microscope as a flagship university of the UC system,” Mejia said, a reference to legislation.

“We have built programmes, resources, learned how to fundraise and work with foundations to create an ecosystem and support for our students. All of that is now under attack.

“Does it mean we are going to back up? No. We are going to stand on what we do and keep moving forward. It’s not the time to be scared and hide, or to change. When the time comes, then we will deal with that battle, but we do not pre-emptively comply, and that is what I am telling my administrators and leaders.

“We are in a moment right now where this network is more important than ever, and we want to make sure we are learning from our colleagues and from history.”

Understanding the student experience

The launch was also addressed by Mo Malele, student development advisor at The Saville Foundation, who spoke about her work in South Africa supporting students dealing with relationship problems, family pressures, and the transition from education into the workplace. Malele has been working on research to understand the notion of student cultural capital and what this means in practice.

“Often, we expect the student to fit into the university and the culture of the institution, and this turns into a one-way communication, where students are not active participants of their own learning,” she said.

Sonal Singh, vice-president of Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA), described the work of Equity Practitioners in 39 universities in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region, who work on the frontline supporting students to ensure the diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice agenda is being met and holding universities accountable.

She said: “We notice that often the policies that are created have good intent but do not translate into practice on the ground, which is where the equity practitioners come in to ensure equity is a lived reality and not a theoretical commitment.

“In Australia there has been a discussion around international students’ caps and how international students are causing a housing crisis, even though they are 0.4% of the rental markets.

“It’s election year next year, and our international students have been used as a political football by both parties and dominating some of the conversations, so we’ve been a bit behind as a country in ensuring that implementation plans are progressing.”

Meanwhile, William Moses, managing director, education at The Kresge Foundation, told delegates that countries globally shared similar challenges with equity gaps.

“People all over the world have been denied education because of their gender, race, class, or religion, their caste, their sexuality, and a host of other reasons,” he said.

“If those countries, or any country, want to flourish in the 21st century, it’s going to have to not just open its doors to universities, but [also] ensure that when a student walks out of those doors they do so with a degree. Right now, many just walk out with debt.”

World-class backers

WAHEN’s website will be a repository of examples of good practice, case studies, and research evidence, as well as equity policies from participating universities and organisations.

WAHEN is led by a board of world-leading organisations, including the World Bank, UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO IESALC), the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), Magna Charta Observatory, Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO RIHED), Institute for the Development of Education, National Education Opportunities Network (NEON), Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA), Lumina Foundation, The Saville Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of West London and Central University of Technology, Free State.