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Encyclopedia of Science Education pp 1–6Cite as

Access of Historically Excluded Groups to Tertiary STEM Education

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Synonyms

Academic support or development programs; Access; Augmented; Bridging; Epistemological access; Extended curriculum; Foundation; Higher education access; Language; Remedial; “Slow stream”

Access programmes

In most countries access to tertiary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) study is restricted to those who attend schools that offer prerequisite preparation, predominantly in mathematics, the main gatekeeping requirement to STEM study in almost all contexts around the world. This restriction leads to either a shortage or a lack of diversity among STEM students, as these schools usually serve the middle and upper socioeconomic groups in any population. In developing countries this pattern is exaggerated even further to the extent that students of first-year undergraduate science classes are often drawn from just a few schools in the whole country. For example, in 1999/2000, 65–75 % of students admitted to two of Ghana’s most prestigious universities were...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marang Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education , University of the Witwatersrand, St Andrews Road, 3, 2050, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

    Marissa Rollnick

Authors
  1. Marissa Rollnick
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Correspondence to Marissa Rollnick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University Fac. Education, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Richard Gunstone

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Rollnick, M. (2014). Access of Historically Excluded Groups to Tertiary STEM Education. In: Gunstone, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_425-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_425-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6165-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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