Mature Female Entrants to Higher Education: Closing the Gender Gap in the UK Labour Market

Within the wider drive in higher education to promote students' use of information and communications technology (ICT) it is assumed that the Internet will be a key application. Popular conceptions of a 'wired' generation of students at ease with on-line learning persist through official literature and the media. From this basis, the present paper takes an empirical perspective in students' use of the Internet, via focus group interviews with 77 students in two UK universities, and explores the factors underlying their use (and non-use) of the Internet in university. Four crucial themes were identified, namely: (i) the ways in which students were introduced to using the Internet; (ii) operational problems encountered when using the Internet as an information resource; (iii) treatment of information retrieved from the Internet; (iv) the social element of learning in on-line environments. These factors are examined in detail and discussed in relation to the future presentation and organisation of students' Internet use in university settings.     

Achieving ‘Transparency,Consistency and Fairness’ in English Higher Education Admissions: Progress since Schwartz?

In 2004 the Schwartz Review advised English higher education institutions that their admissions systems should: be transparent; select students who are able to complete their courses based upon achievements and potential; use assessment methods that are reliable and valid; minimise barriers to applicants; be professional; and be underpinned by appropriate institutional structures and processes. These five principles were only expressed as recommendations, reflecting the reluctance of policy makers to interfere with individual higher education institutions' admissions policies. This article analyses the results of research that reviewed the progress that English higher education institutions had made in implementing the Schwartz recommendations and assess whether a more interventionist stance is required to achieve ‘fair admissions’.     

Teaching subjects to pupils with profound and multiple learning difficultiesConsiderations for the new Framework

Nicola Grove, who lectures in speech and language therapy and works in a school for pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties, and Nick Peacey, Director of the Special Educational Needs Joint Initiative for Training (SENJIT) at the Institute of Education, discuss the development of a framework for teaching National Curriculum subjects to pupils with profound learning difficulties through discussion with mainstream specialists.