Through 15 chapters by education researchers from the UK, Africa, the US, Israel, and Australia, this volume examines the challenges and opportunities related to widening access to success and social mobility through higher education experiences in the UK and around the world. They discuss how highly selective universities in the UK can be held to account for their contribution to social mobility; access to higher education in South Africa; the role of policy in enhancing social mobility through access to part-time study; increasing access to tertiary and higher education in rural communities in Tasmania and New Zealand; the contribution of social capital to student success in higher education; the experiences of black, Asian, and minority ethnic undergraduates in a UK creative arts university; students' views of the institutional learning environment in a multicultural college and impacts on their academic and social success; the relationship between social background and future educational and occupational outcomes; opening up higher education to those with mental health problems; service learning in academic activism for educational transformation; the development of a new campus of Coventry University in Scarborough; a teacher’s experience of the effect of part-time degree study; a whole-institution approach to widening participation in higher education; and the role of global advocacy and action in access.

Stuart Billingham is Professor Emeritus of Lifelong Learning at York St John University, UK and was previously Pro Vice Chancellor at the University. He has worked to widen access to success in, and through, tertiary education for almost 40 years. He has published widely, both nationally and internationally, and regularly presents at major international conferences on these issues.

Foreword; Dianne Willcocks CBE, DL