Welcome to the GAPS Bulletin (June/July 2017)
 
Dear Mikel Osborne,
 
The Global Access to Postsecondary Education (GAPS) Initiative is incorporated as an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organization in The Hague, the ‘City of Peace and Justice’.
 
To access the full articles presented in this bulletin, just click the headline or wherever else indicated and you will be automatically forwarded.
 
As part of our effort to build the community, we would like to keep our readership information current. We thank you in advance for taking a couple of minutes to update your information by following this link:
http://gaps-education.us13.list-manage2.com/profile?u=c7569cecb46f6cfbbd...(link is external)
 
In this edition of the GAPS Bulletin you will find the following sections:

• GAPS Feature Story
• Why GAPS
• Global Access News
• Latest GAPS Publications
• GAPS Network News
• About GAPS
• Online Library
• GAPS Calendar

 
During the upcoming weeks (through the end of September) we are going to surprise you with five special editions of the Global Access News.
 
If you would like to get actively involved in the GAPS Initiative, please send an email to secretariat@gaps-education.org(link sends e-mail)
 
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Closing the GAPS – the ‘GAPS Think Pieces’
We will be developing and articulating the global issues around access to post-secondary education via our ‘GAPS Think Piece’ series. Closing the GAPS will feature different think pieces from key figures in research, policy and practice.
 

1. Be Part of the Community
Follow GAPS and interact with GAPS on Twitter(link is external), LinkedIn(link is external), Facebook(link is external) and Instagram(link is external)

2. Be Part of ‘Why GAPS’
Participating in the “Why GAPS” awareness raising campaign is as easy as A, B, C:
A: Send us(link sends e-mail) a high quality picture of yourself
B: Tell us your affiliation
C: Give us a one sentence answer to ‘Why GAPS?’
Don’t know what ‘Why GAPS’ is? Visit our social media channels.

3. Be a GAPS Think Piece Author
The GAPS Think Piece Series is targeted to developing and articulating the global issues around access to postsecondary education. Think Pieces provide a unique opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with the global access and success community, but also to provoke and to challenge the thinking in the community. Click here(link is external) to explore the Think Piece Series.

4. Be a Disseminator
You have news, events, good practice, successful models, a new (research) article or publication? Why don’t you give us a hint by clicking here(link is external) and we can share it with the global access and success community.

5. Be Informed
To keep current on the latest access news from around the globe and to be the first to receive information about the latest GAPS developments, click here(link is external) and sign up.

6. Be a Participant
GAPS is organizing events for the global access and success community, why not meet peers from around the world and collect some new ideas?

7. Be a Driver
You are creative, you have time and have the motivation for change? To get in touch with us click here(link sends e-mail), share your ideas and get actively involved in and for the global access and success movement! 

Access Defined
 

The word ‘access’ requires interpretation, as it is not used with a single universal meaning. For example, in the 1997 Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon Recognition Convention), access (to higher education) is defined as ‘the right of qualified candidates to apply and to be considered for admission to higher education’. This definition was followed by the definition of ‘Social Dimension’ (London Communiqué, 2007): “We share the societal aspiration that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels should reflect the diversity of our populations. We reaffirm the importance of students being able to complete their studies without obstacles related to their social and economic background,” while stressing the efforts […] to widen participation at all levels on the basis of equal opportunity.”
 

While this definition is intended to provide a clear-cut international legal definition of the term, access is commonly considered more as a synonym of entry or a combination of entry and participation. GAPS, however, supports the more comprehensive definition of ‘access’ used by the Council of Europe(link is external) in its 1998 Recommendation on Access to Higher Education in which ‘access policy’ is defined as “a policy that aims both at the widening of participation in higher education to all sections of society, and at ensuring that this participation is effective (that is, in conditions which ensure that personal effort will lead to successful completion)”.

 

Access is multidimensional and should be looked at from a holistic view. Key dimensions of access include: affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability. It is suggested that these “form a chain that is no stronger than its weakest link” and that access is only achieved if all its components are ensured.

GAPS interprets the term ‘higher’ education broadly to include all postsecondary or tertiary educational opportunities including the technical, vocational and academic streams and embraces the concept of lifelong learning.

To access the complete Events Calendar click here(link is external).
Your event for the access & success community is missing? Contact us(link sends e-mail)!