32 research outputs found
Access, participation and capabilities: Theorising the contribution of university bursaries to studentsâ 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. Studentsâ 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 Senâs âcapabilities approachâ, 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
Bone creep can cause progressive vertebral deformity
Introduction
Vertebral deformities in elderly people are conventionally termed âfracturesâ, but their onset is often insidious, suggesting that time-dependent (creep) processes may also be involved. Creep has been studied in small samples of bone, but nothing is known about creep deformity of whole vertebrae, or how it might be influenced by bone mineral density (BMD). We hypothesise that sustained compressive loading can cause progressive and measurable creep deformity in elderly human vertebrae.
Methods
27 thoracolumbar âmotion segmentsâ (two vertebrae and the intervening disc and ligaments) were dissected from 20 human cadavers aged 42â91 yrs. A constant compressive force of approximately 1.0 kN was applied to each specimen for either 0.5 h or 2 h, while the anterior, middle and posterior heights of each of the 54 vertebral bodies were measured at 1 Hz using a MacReflex 2D optical tracking system. This located 6 reflective markers attached to the lateral cortex of each vertebral body, with resolution better than 10 Îźm. Experiments were at laboratory temperature, and polythene film was used to minimise water loss. Volumetric BMD was calculated for each vertebral body, using DXA to measure mineral content, and water immersion for volume.
Results
In the 0.5 h tests, creep deformation in the anterior, middle and posterior vertebral cortex averaged 4331, 1629 and 614 micro-strains respectively, where 10,000 micro-strains represents 1% loss in height. Anterior creep strains exceeded posterior (P < 0.01) so that anterior wedging of the vertebral bodies increased, by an average 0.08° (STD 0.14°). Similar results were obtained after 2 h, indicating that creep rate slowed considerably with time. Less than 40% of the creep strain was recovered after 2 h. Increases in anterior wedging during the 0.5 h creep test were inversely proportional to BMD, but only in a selected sub-set of 20 specimens with average BMD < 0.15 g/cm3 (P = 0.042). Creep deformation caused more than 5% height loss in four vertebrae, three of which had radiographic signs of pre-existing damage.
Conclusion
Sustained loading can cause progressive anterior wedge deformity in elderly human vertebrae, even in the absence of fracture
The retreat from widening participation? : the National Scholarship Programme and new access agreements in English higher education
This article critically analyses the impact of reforms to the student financial support system in English higher education. Comparative analysis of financial support mechanisms and patterns of outreach engagement with groups underrepresented in higher education show a marked deterioration in the levels of cash support available and an increasingly focus on the brightest poor students (in the form of merit aid) at the expense of the generality of poorer students since the new support programme came into place. This can be seen as part of a wider policy shift away from generic widening participation to the targeting of specific cohorts to raise the attainment level of intakes or to meet recruitment shortfalls. The findings are located in a context of a (near) trebling of tuition fees, stagnation in overall student numbers and the promotion of market mechanisms, all of which can be seen as a challenge to the notion of social justice through the higher education system
Social identification, widening participation and Higher Education: Experiencing similarity and difference in an English red brick university
In 2012, the UK government introduced the National Scholarship Programme - a scheme that
aimed to ensure that young people from families with low household incomes would not be
discouraged from entry into higher education by increases in tuition fees. Drawing on
longitudinal evidence in the form of eighty semi-structured interviews conducted in an
English Red Brick University over a three-year period, this paper uses
Jenkinsâ work on
social identification to examine the process
es by which these post-2012 undergraduates used
and experienced the financial support made available to them as part of the Programme. The
paper
explores how the initially categorical label associated with being a student in receipt of
financial assistance was variously understood and experienced as they moved through their
degree. Not only did the additional finance allow students to avoid excessive part-time work,
recipients also felt increasingly valued by the institution when they began to recognise how
their financial circumstances differed from their peers, and that the university had made this
provision for them. It remains to be seen whether these, more intangible, benefits of non-
repayable financial support will transfer to the system of âenhancedâ loans that have
subsequently replaced maintenance grants and the National Scholarship Programme
Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?
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By chance or by plan?: The academic success of nontraditional students in higher education
In the United Kingdom, a âgoodâ undergraduate degree is understood to be a âfirst classâ or an âupper second class,â which is achieved by three-quarters of students. The need to distinguish oneself from others is ever more important in an increasingly crowded graduate market, although a first-class degree is most likely achieved by privileged students. Informed by Bourdieuâs theory of habitus and capital, this study explores the educational experiences and trajectories of 30 final-year high-achieving nontraditional (HANT) students through in-depth interviews. These include working-class, minority ethnic, and/or mature students at university. We found that prior development in academic study skills and the desire to prove oneself, often in response to previous negative experiences, are key ingredients in academic success. Our HANT students also seem to find inspiration or support from significant others, an educational capital, although these resources are often by chance rather than by plan. Implications for policy and practice are suggested
System differentiation in England: the imposition of supply and demand
This chapter describes changing state and sector policy in relation to differentiation and how it has emerged in the English HE context: specifically, the attempts to concentrate the highest qualified applicants and the most prestigious institutions in a 'premium' market segment; the significance of the growing involvement of private providers; and the rise of the âstudent-as-consumerâ and 'value for money' in recent government policy discourse (e.g. the White Papers Students at the Heart of the System (DBIS 2011a) and Success as a Knowledge Economy (DBIS 2016). The chapter situates the development of a market hierarchy (in the form of a vertical differentiation of institutions, Archer 2007) following the demise of the university-polytechnic binary system in 1992 (Further and Higher Education Act, HMSO 1992). This co-existed for several years with the institutional diversity often celebrated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (e.g. HEFCE 1994; 2000) that can be conceptualised as the horizontal differentiation of valued types of higher education provision and provider (e.g. part-time or vocationally orientated). The introduction of market mechanisms, in various stages beginning with the 2004 Higher Education Act (DfES 2004) and the introduction of variable tuition fees, coincided with the publication of institutional league tables from 2005. Taken together, these have reinforced a hierarchical system in which all institutions and courses are henceforth differentiated only by reference to a set of criteria dominated by the entry requirements demanded, and the amount of research carried out by the institution. Given the implications of the most recent legislation â the Higher Education and Research Act (HMSO 2017) this hierarchy is likely to be matched by one signalled by tuition fee levels, as new cheaper 'challenger' institutions come to the market
Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies
England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries
Receipt for payment from John Cocke for Mary C. Cocke to Offa Shivers, April 14, 1838
This document is part of the John Cocke papers that contains the personal, business, and legal papers of this 19th century Marengo County, Alabama, plantation owner, who not only managed his own plantation but also served as an agent for various family members. Financial papers consist of receipts from grocers and suppliers detailing purchases (including slave purchases); account books for his blacksmith shop; and labor accounts with payroll. There are cotton records that contain correspondence as well as accounts
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