Access, participation and capabilities: Theorising the contribution of university bursaries to students’ well-being, flourishing and success

For the last 10 years, universities in England have been expected to offer financial support to low-income students alongside that provided by government. These bursaries were initially conceived in terms of improving access for under-represented groups, but attention has turned to their role in supporting student retention and success. This paper reports on two qualitative studies undertaken by contrasting universities that have been brought together due to their complementary findings. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a total of 98 students. Students’ views on bursaries and how they impact on their lives are reported and used to develop a descriptive model of the web of choices that students have in balancing finances and time. This is contextualised within Sen’s ‘capabilities approach’, to argue that providing access to higher education is insufficient if disadvantaged students are not able to flourish by participating fully in the university experience

University rankings:What do they really show?

University rankings as developed by the media are used by many stakeholders in higher education: students looking for university places; academics looking for university jobs; university managers who need to maintain standing in the competitive arena of student recruitment; and governments who want to know that public funds spent on universities are delivering a world class higher education system. Media rankings deliberately draw attention to the performance of each university relative to all others, and as such they are undeniably simple to use and interpret. But one danger is that they are potentially open to manipulation and gaming because many of the measures underlying the rankings are under the control of the institutions themselves. This paper examines media rankings (constructed from an amalgamation of variables representing performance across numerous dimensions) to reveal the problems with using a composite index to reflect overall performance. It ends with a proposal for an alternative methodology which leads to groupings rather than point estimates

Dynamic anoxic ferruginous conditions during the end-Permian mass extinction and recovery

The end-Permian mass extinction, ~252 million years ago, is notable for a complex recovery period of ~5 Myr. Widespread euxinic (anoxic and sulfidic) oceanic conditions have been proposed as both extinction mechanism and explanation for the protracted recovery period, yet the vertical distribution of anoxia in the water column and its temporal dynamics through this time period are poorly constrained. Here we utilize Fe–S–C systematics integrated with palaeontological observations to reconstruct a complete ocean redox history for the Late Permian to Early Triassic, using multiple sections across a shelf-to-basin transect on the Arabian Margin (Neo-Tethyan Ocean). In contrast to elsewhere, we show that anoxic non-sulfidic (ferruginous), rather than euxinic, conditions were prevalent in the Neo-Tethys. The Arabian Margin record demonstrates the repeated expansion of ferruginous conditions with the distal slope being the focus of anoxia at these times, as well as short-lived episodes of oxia that supported diverse biota

The end-Triassic negative δ13C excursion : A lithologic test

The end-Triassic mass extinction is associated with a large negative carbon isotope excursion, which has been interpreted as reflecting the rapid injection of 13C depleted CO2 or methane associated with the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. However, in a number of sections in central Europe, the negative excursion is associated with a carbonate-poor lithology, and the most isotopically depleted values are associated with the lowest percent carbonate, raising the possibility of a lithologic control on δ13Ccarb.Here we test the uniqueness of the relationship between the carbonate-poor lithology and the δ13C signal by comparing the geochemistry of the extinction marl with two Upper Triassic carbonate-poor beds from lower positions within the same stratigraphic sections. We find that the extinction and non-extinction marls overlap nearly completely in terms of their carbonate content, but differ substantially in their isotopic trends. The extinction marl sections show strong depletions in the δ13C and δ18O of carbonate, and enrichment in δ13C of bulk organic carbon, while the non-extinction marls show almost no change in these metrics. Accordingly, the difference in isotopic content must lie in differences inherent to the beds themselves and the circumstances of their deposition and early diagenesis. Although a range of primary drivers for the isotopic trends is possible, an acidification origin for the marl, and oceanic origin for the carbon isotope excursion in carbonate are compatible with our data and supported by the broader context of the extinction

CONSTRAINTS FROM PAIRED<i>δ</i>¹³C RECORDS

[1] Constraining the carbon isotopic changes associated with the end-Triassic mass extinction is key to understanding the causes of the extinction and dynamics of recovery from it. Yet the pattern and timing of δ13C variation surrounding the extinction remain poorly constrained. Here we present close to 1000 new δ13C measurements from six newly sampled sections in Italy. We observe a sharp negative excursion in δ13Ccarb coincident with the disappearance of the Triassic fauna, and two positive excursions above it. The negative δ13Ccarb excursion in these sections does not occur in δ13Corg suggesting a possible diagenetic origin. In contrast, the interval of elevated δ13C occurs in both carbonate and organic carbon, suggesting that it is likely to be a primary feature. The positive excursions in the Lombardy Basin (southern Alps) and Mt. Cefalo (southern Apennines) appear to be time correlative on the basis of their position above the disappearance of characteristically Triassic biota. However, it is less certain that they are time correlative with positive excursions in other sections worldwide, as few options exist that honor both bio- and chemostratigraphy. Nonetheless, similarity to other events that are interpreted as global, as well as carbon cycle considerations, suggest that the isotopic enrichment is best interpreted to reflect a shift in the isotope composition of the global surface carbon reservoir. Our data indicate that perturbation of the global carbon cycle was not confined to the immediate vicinity of the extinction interval, but rather persisted for substantial length of geologic time afterwards