Supporting Student Diversity In Higher Education

Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education is a working manual that is designed to help managers, academics and members of the professional service teams within universities, recruit and support a diverse student body across the student lifecycle at the same time as delivering a quality student experience in a challenging and pressured environment. Using the Student Experience Practitioner Model as a framework, this book helps colleagues responsible for improving the student experience navigate their way through the maze of student diversity across all levels of study, determining what to deliver, how to deliver it and to whom. It interlinks academic, welfare and support activities at faculty department, school, course and university level to support the student in their university journey. Containing 40 practical and innovative undergraduate UK and international case studies from across 12 countries spanning four continents, this book provides practical examples of recruiting and supporting a diverse student body. It includes initiatives to support: mature students (e.g. academic re-engagement); students with special needs (e.g. dyslexia and other disabilities); international students (e.g. language support requirements); students at risk (e.g. lower socio-economic groups, care leavers, male learners); Transfer and direct entry students (e.g. supporting students through this transition); individual learners and their learning needs (impact of personality on learning); students who support students (e.g. peer support). This book will be of great use to senior and middle administrative managers and academics involved in the recruitment, retention and progression of students; and also to anyone involved in education policy and students aiming to work in higher education.

In recent decades, the Canadian post-secondary education system has evolved to become more inclusive, now welcoming groups historically excluded from its many opportunities. Inviting the reader to explore the consequences of a rapidly changing student population, Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education presents new thinking about how education in general, and student services in particular, should be designed and delivered. A follow-up to Donna Hardy Cox and C. Carney Strange’s Achieving Student Success (2010), this volume focuses on the best programs and practices in Canadian colleges and universities to improve the educational experiences of students who are Indigenous, people of colour, francophone, LGBTQQ, disabled, and adult learners, as well as international and first-generation students. Presenting findings obtained from both personal insight and relevant research, higher education practitioners and scholars from across the country detail the characteristics, concerns, and specific needs of each diverse group, to conclude that the success of these new students and the future of Canadian society depends on its post-secondary institutions’ capacities to acknowledge students’ differences, capitalize on their gifts, and accommodate them accordingly. Exploring the enriching breadth of university communities, Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education focuses on a new paradigm of individual differences and student success.

Government initiatives in many countries emphasise social inclusion in higher education, resulting in a more diverse student population. This presents opportunities and challenges for academic and professional staff in managing and supporting these students. Managing and Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education focuses on how students succeed amidst a culture of widening participation. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first introduces current literature and policies to present an international perspective on widening participation in higher education. The following five chapters present students’ stories on topics including getting into higher education, the international experience, coping with education later in life, and identity. Stories are followed by implications for management and support, and discussion topics for practitioners. The book concludes by looking at how students succeed in higher education and the implications for managing and supporting student diversity. Provides an accessible and practical resource using students’ own voices Emphasises how students from diverse backgrounds succeed in higher education Offers in-depth personal insights into issues facing learners from diverse backgrounds

This book explores tried and tested strategies that support student and faculty engagement and inclusion in the academy. These strategies are anchored by a brief exploration of the history and effect/s of exclusion and deprivilege in higher education. However, while many publications exploring academic inequality focus on the causes and impacts of structural, psychological and cultural exclusion based on racism, sexism, classism and ableism, they rarely engage in interventions to expose and combat such de/privilege. Capturing examples of inclusive practices that are as diverse as student and faculty populations, these strategies can be easily translated and employed by organisations, collectives and individuals to recognise and combat social and academic exclusion within higher education environments.

The landscape of higher education (HE) has dramatically altered in the past 30 years and it continues to evolve and change. More students are entering HE and attending university or college on a global scale than ever before. Supporting and enhancing the undergraduate student experience across the student lifecycle, from first contact through to alumni, is a critical activity in higher education today not only to aid retention and progression but in a highly competitive HE market, the quality of the student experience is pivotal to an institution’s ability to attract students. The student experience encompasses all aspects of student life, i.e. academic, social, welfare, with the academic imperative at the heart of it. However, the increasing costs of delivering HE, a reduction in government/ state funding and constraints on resources means delivering a quality student experience has never been more challenging for those working in HE. Staff at all levels, and across all areas within an institution, are developing and implementing initiatives to improve and enhance the student experience whether they are at the coal face or on the periphery thus making them a ‘Practitioner’ in the student experience. This could include the admissions administrator improving the information available for potential applicants; the academic improving his/her feedback to students or central welfare departments ensuring that their services are being advertised and supported within a student’s home unit (faculty/department/school/course). In this book, the Editor, Michelle Morgan describes how her new student experience ‘Practitioner Model’ provides an organised and more detailed structure; guiding Practitioners in the identification of what they have to deliver, who they need to deliver it to and when they need to deliver it across her six key stages of the student lifecycle: · First Contact and Admissions; · Pre-arrival; · Arrival and Orientation; · Induction to Study; · Reorientation and Reinduction (Returners' Induction) · Outduction (preparation for life after undergraduate study). The Practioner Model offers a new way of thinking in terms of delivering ‘interlinked’ academic, welfare and support activities at the home unit and university level to support the student in their university journey. This book also provides working solutions to real problems in the form of exemplar case studies from the UK and internationally, including chapters from Liz Thomas, Di Nutt, Marcia Ody, Chris Keenan(UK), Mary Stuart Hunter, (USA), Kerri-Lee Krause and Duncan Nulty (Australia). Good practice must be adaptable and transferable because one size does not fit all. It must also be cost effective. And here the authors shows how practitioners can adapt and customise the 40 case studies presented to help them not only improve and enhance the experience of their undergraduate students in their own institution (both full and part-time) but also to support their students’ progression and retention.

This new and updated second edition of Diversity and Inclusion on Campus: Supporting Students of Color in Higher Education provides an exploration of the range of college experiences, from gaining access to higher education to successfully persisting through degree programs. By bridging research, theory, and practice related to the ways that peers, faculty, administrators, staff, and institutions can and do influence racially and ethnically diverse students’ experiences, Winkle-Wagner and Locks examine how and why it is imperative to have an understanding of the issues that affect students of color in higher education. This new edition also includes features such as: New case studies and examples throughout that allow readers to take institutional-level and student-level approaches to the chapter topics Updated citations and theory across chapters New topical coverage, including discussion of college affordability, an exploration of a variety of institution types, and the role of merit in maintaining and perpetuating racial inequality in higher education End-of-chapter questions that encourage readers to explore chapter concepts in more detail This second edition is an invaluable resource for future and current higher education and student affairs practitioners working towards full inclusion and participation for students of color in higher education.

Encouraging Diversity in Higher Education: Supporting Student Success provides an overview of the widening participation movement in Higher Education in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand. It argues that universities should revitalise their learning and teaching practices to better meet the diverse learning needs of contemporary undergraduate students. Approachable in execution, this book provides an evidence-based set of classroom practices, which readers will readily be able to relate to and use successfully. Answering questions such as: • How can I enrich my undergraduate teaching? • How can I help undergraduate students engage fully with their learning? • How can help undergraduate students to quickly acclimatise to Higher Education? • How can I help undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds excel at university? This book discusses economic and discursive drivers used to increase the numbers of undergraduate students who were the first in their families to enter university, and some of the ways in which universities responded to the growing percentage of such students. In so doing, it considers the learning needs of diverse students, and discusses the views of academic teaching staff who have used transparent pedagogies in their classrooms. Including forty five teaching strategies designed to generate highly engaged, socially inclusive classrooms, this is the first book to offer both a theoretical background of the need to approach learning and teaching in contemporary universities in innovative ways, and a practical, step by step guide to using a suite of transparent pedagogies. These focus on building inclusive classroom communities, generating academic literacies, developing collaborative learning skills, and encouraging students to think critically. This book will be a useful companion for both early career academics and those with experience but dealing with a new student cohort. It will also be of great interest to those teaching or studying the many professional qualifications in tertiary education. Kate Hughes is the President of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and Senior Consultant of Teaching and Learning at the Australian Catholic University. She is the co-author of Australian Sociology: A Changing Society, the market leading undergraduate text in Australia, now in its fourth edition.

Addressing disability not as a form of student impairment—as it is typically perceived at the postsecondary level—but rather as an important dimension of student diversity and identity, this book explores how disability can be more effectively incorporated into college environments. Chapters propose new perspectives, empirical research, and case studies to provide the necessary foundation for understanding the role of disability within campus climate and integrating students with disabilities into academic and social settings. Contextualizing disability through the lens of intersectionality, Disability as Diversity in Higher Education illustrates how higher education institutions can use policies and practices to enhance inclusion and student success.