Abstract
Widening access signifies a substantial change in the idea of the university. Over the past twenty years, research and policy have made the question of whether Irish HE is representative or democratic a live issue. The impact may not be what has been expected, targets may not have been met but there can be little doubt it carries with it in its more substantive iterations real democratic possibilities. Nevertheless, as we come to the end of our story of widening participation and increasing access of non-traditional students in Irish HE, it is not possible to leave with: “and they all lived happily ever after!” This is no fairy tale with a happy ending, after all even if traditional students are part of a Cinderella tale there is certainly no prince or princess.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Clarke, M., Kenny. A., Loxley, A. (2015). Creating a supportive working environment for academics in higher education: country report Ireland. Dublin: The Teachers’ Union of Ireland and The Irish Federation of University Teachers.
Couldry, N. (2010). Why voice matters: culture and politics after neoliberalism. London: Sage.
Finnegan, F., & O’Neill, J. (2015, November 25–27). A critical approach to employability: Paper read at roundtable at ESREA (European Society for the Education of Adults) conference continuity and discontinuity in learning careers: potentials for a learning space in a changing world: access, learning careers and identities network, University of Seville, Spain.
Gallagher, M. (2012). Academic Armageddon: an Irish requiem for higher education. Dublin: Liffey Press.
Honneth, A. (1995). The struggle for recognition: the moral grammar of social conflicts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. (1972). Dialectic of enlightenment. New York: Seabury.
Loxley, A. (2014). From seaweed & peat to pills & very small things: knowledge production and higher education in the Irish context. In A. Loxley, A. Seery, Walsh, J. (Eds.), Higher education in Ireland: Practices, policies and possibilities (pp. 55–85). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Lynch, K., Grummell, B., Devine, D. (2012). New managerialism in education: commercialization, carelessness and gender. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
O’Malley. M. (2012) University and the State in Ireland: from a negotiated exchange relationship based on trust to prescriptive requirements in university governance. Unpublished Ed.D. thesis: Maynooth University.
Walsh, J., & Loxley, A. (2015). The Hunt report: an Irish solution to an Irish problem. Studies in Higher Education, 40(6), 1128–1145.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fleming, T., Finnegan, F., Loxley, A. (2017). Towards a Conclusion. In: Access and Participation in Irish Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56974-5_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56974-5_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56973-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56974-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)