GAPS Bulletin - Global Access News, June/July 2017

News

Welcome to the GAPS Bulletin, June/July 2017:

GAPS Global Access News (June/July 2017)

The GAPS Bulletin

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:
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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 [email protected]

Do you like the GAPS e-Bulletin? If you do, please use the buttons below to share it within your network:

GAPS Feature Story

Triangle of Experiences: Lessons from Singapore, Berlin, Seattle

In her latest blog post for the GAPS community, Diya Khanna reflects on her triangle of experiences in Singapore, Berlin and Seattle. If you want to know how this is related to postsecondary education, have a look at the blog post.

Why GAPS?

Global Access News

One in three HE studentsay university is poor value
Nearly as many United Kingdom students (34%) now think they are receiving poor value as good value (35%) from their higher education.

Former NZ PM addresses SDGs and education
Universal secondary education is the next step in order to provide greater access to higher education in developing countries, says Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand.

Education aid ‘stagnates’ despite pledges
International funding to support education in poorer countries is “stagnating” says a UNESCO report, despite campaigns calling for more investment.

The Disinvestment hypothesis: Don’t blame state budget cuts for rising tuition at public universities
There are many popular explanations for why college tuition tends to rise faster than inflation, and each of these motivate different policy proposals about whether, how, and whom to subsidize in the USA higher education system.

The Guardian view on higher education: trouble ahead
First, universities were treated as businesses. Then, they were told to fight for export customers. But now, Brexit threatens to cut their student numbers disastrously.

Why higher education doesn’t ensure better jobs for women in India
What’s the correlation between higher education and jobs for women? Here is what the numbers say.

To share your initiatives or news with access & success colleagues from around the world Click here

Student grant levels too low, survey finds
The German Student Welfare Service (DSW) has called for an increase in federal government grant support for students in response to the findings of a survey by the Institute for Education and Socio-Economic Research and Consulting (FiBS).

Is Higher Ed the Next Big Frontier for Impact Investing?
Impact investing, with its promise of both financial returns and measureable social benefits, is one of the hottest trends in philanthropy.

‘We are looking to Canada to lead’, says Julia Gillard
The former Australian prime minister says that, now that PM Justin Trudeau has taken over leadership of the G7, many around the world are looking to him to lead on issues including global education.

Scholars urge new strategies to boost indigenous doctorates
From growth targets and reviewing scholarships to bolstering training for supervisors, universities must adopt new approaches to boost indigenous PhD numbers, a leading scholar says.

Inclusive Pedagogy & Bell Curve Thinking
Inclusive pedagogy is a contentious concept as there is no agreement that all children can be educated together and, where there is agreement, there is still a discussion on how this can be done.

Tackling institutional racism in universities effectively
Research continues to demonstrate that individuals from minority ethnic communities disproportionately experience adverse outcomes in higher education.

Latest GAPS Publication

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.

The GAPS Think Piece Issue 23
The distinctive contribution of non-formal education to engaging marginalized groups:
Some European perspectives on community lifelong learning centres
Paul Downes
Dublin City University, Ireland

The GAPS Think Piece Issue 24
Equity in tertiary education:
Relevance and data availability across OECD countries
Gabriele Marconi
Analyst, Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD

To access the GAPS Think Piece Series click here

GAPS Network News

Did you know? Be Part of the GAPS Initiative - 7 opportunities

1. Be Part of the Community
Follow GAPS and interact with GAPS on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram

2. Be Part of ‘Why GAPS’
Participating in the “Why GAPS” awareness raising campaign is as easy as A, B, C:
A: Send us 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 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 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 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, share your ideas and get actively involved in and for the global access and success movement!

COE FairShare
(to access the video click picture)

About GAPS

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 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.

Online Library

Have you already visited our online library? You will find books and articles that may be of interest to organizations and individuals committed to postsecondary education access and success.

To view the latest entries submitted by the GAPS Community, please visit the GAPS online library.

If you would like to add to this library, please get in touch with us or tweet @gapseducation.

GAPS Calendar

July 11-12, 2017: 4^th International Conference on Business, Law, Education and Corporate Social Responsibility (BLECSR-17). Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, click here.

July 19-21, 2017: 24^th International Conference on Learning – New Media for New Learning. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA. For more information, click here.

July 26, 2017: Internationalisation within and beyond the academy. London, UK. For more information, click here.

August 30 – September 3, 2017: Magna Charta 29^th Anniversary. Pécs, Hungary. For more information click here.

September 12-15, 2017: EAIA 2017 – A mosaic of cultures. Seville, Spain. For more information click here.

September 13-16, 2017: 36^th Annual Conference, Council for Opportunity in Education. Washington (DC), USA. For details click here.

September 18-19, 2017: International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals: Actors and Implementation. Barcelona, Spain. For more information, click here.

September 20-22, 2017: 26^th EAN Annual Conference. Gießen, Germany. More information is available here.

September 28-29, 2017: 1st European Learning & Teaching Forum – Meeting Challenges Together. Paris, France. For more information, click here.

October 16-17, 2017: Shaping Ethics in Academia and Society: Practices in the Baltic Sea Region. Vilnius, Lithuania. For more information, click here.

October 17-19, 2017: 14^th PASCAL International Conference, Trends 2017 – Which way to go? Skukuza (Kruger National Park), South Africa. For more information, click here.

October 27-29, 2017: Inclusive Education Summit 2017. University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. For more information, click here.

November 20, 2017: NCSEHE 2017 Fellows Forum, Brisbane Australia. For more information, click here.

December 6-8, 2017: SRHE Research Conference 2017 – Higher Education rising to the challenge: Balancing expectations of students, society and stakeholders. Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales. For more information, click here.

March 2-3, 2018: 11^th International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies. St John’s University – Manhattan Campus, New York/USA. For more information, click here.

June 6-8, 2018: 18^th International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations. University of Texas at Austin, USA. For more information, click here.

June 21-23, 2018: 25^th International Conference on Learning. Athens, Greece. For more information, click here.

To access the complete Events Calendar click here.
Your event for the access & success community is missing? Contact us!

To share initiatives or news with access and success colleagues from around the world send an
email to [email protected] or tweet @gapseducation

All links in this newsletters are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by GAPS of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization. GAPS bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of external sites or for that of subsequent links. Please contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.