Journal Article

The Importance of Highly Engaged School-University Partnerships in Widening Participation Outreach

Nadine Zacharias, Geoffrey Mitchell

2020

Overview

In Australia, there has been a sustained investment in widening participation activities by the federal government through the Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program (HEPPP) and a sustained effort by universities and their partner schools to create high-quality widening participation programs. However, there is limited longitudinal evidence on if and how these widening participation activities influence the application rates to university by school leavers from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. This article draws on a large mixed-methods study which aimed to investigate differences in university application rates between students from low SES backgrounds in urban versus rural, regional and remote (RRR) schools in Queensland. The research found that widening participation programs had a positive and statistically significant influence on application rates to university in highly engaged schools. We propose the concept of a virtuous circle of sustained widening participation activity to explain the positive results in highly engaged schools. [Author abstract]

• Publisher: Queensland University of Technology Publications,Queensland University of Technology
• Subject: Academic Aspiration / Access to education / Aspiration / Australia / College Applicants / College Attendance / College School Cooperation / Colleges & universities / Decision Making / Disadvantaged / Disadvantaged Environment / Disadvantaged Schools / Diversity (Student) / Dropouts / Economic Status / Education / Educational partnerships / Enrolment / Evidence / Expectation / Foreign Countries / Geographic Isolation / Government School Relationship / Grants / Higher Education / Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) (Australia) / Low income groups / Mixed Methods Research / Multimethod techniques / Outcomes of Education / Outreach Programs / Partnerships in Education / Regional characteristics / Regional Schools / Rural areas / Rural education / Rural Urban Differences / School Policy / Schools / Secondary education / Secondary School Students / Social class / Socioeconomic factors / Socioeconomic Status / Statistical Data / Statistical Significance / Student Behavior / Student Participation / Transition programs / Universities / Universities and colleges / University admission / University bound students / University school cooperation