Widening participation in higher education: researching institutional responses

This paper discusses how I undertook research into higher education institution (HEI) policy on widening participation policy for my doctorate (Greenbank, 2004). The study examined the way English widening participation policy ‘migrates’ from government, through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), before arriving at universities and colleges of higher education. It then examined in detail how a number of HEIs interpreted, revised and formulated institutional policy on widening participation (see Greenbank, 2006a, 2006b for a review). This research was not, therefore, concerned with the operational effectiveness of widening participation policy, or the ‘gap’ between policy and practice, but instead focused on the rationale behind institutional policy