China's higher education expansion policy implemented in 1999 has substantially increased higher education opportunities. This paper investigates whether rural students do benefit more from the expansion policy and achieve educational equity between urban and rural areas. Based on the four waves of nationwide micro survey data, collected in 2000,…

Rural, regional and remote (RRR) students are less likely to participate in higher education and tend to be older than their city counterparts. Individual and family factors influencing RRR students' higher education access and participation are well researched. However, little is known about community factors supporting access and participation,…

In the past two decades, the Government of Pakistan has significantly invested in higher education (HE) to bring structural reforms in funding, governance, and quality assurance mechanisms. Their overarching mission has been to fuel national socioeconomic development by ensuring equal access to HE. Given this, the present study aimed to address…

Based on analysis of an administrative dataset, which includes granular detail on 800,000 English students over a 10-year period, this article identifies an urban 'escalator' effect in entry to elite universities, with disadvantaged youth in the urban centres of England having higher rates of entry than similarly disadvantaged youth located…

By making use of a nationally representative dataset collected by China Family Panel Studies, this article discusses how the higher education expansion policy influences the equality of higher education access opportunity. Moreover, this study applied the multilevel cross-classified model in order to control for inequality in chances of enrollment…

At a time when interventions in widening access to, and participation in, higher education aim to maximise impact by engaging with schools located in the most deprived communities, school pupils in rural communities, and who experience deprivation, are, in practice, less likely to benefit. Using statistics available from the Scottish government,…

The mission of the University of Wisconsin System is to provide Wisconsin's high school graduates with opportunities to cultivate "intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise, and a sense of purpose." Further, as part of its 2020 strategic plan to meet state workforce needs, the…

Chinese rural students are less privileged than their urban counterparts in accessing Chinese elite universities. Existing studies widely follow a Bourdieusian explanation for this discrepancy in access, focusing on rural parents' capital deficit in their children's education. However, research also shows that Chinese rural parents hold higher…

Access to university education is one of the fundamental educational questions in contemporary educational debates. This is because university education is seen as having an array of benefits to individuals, their households, and their nations. However, the challenge of inequality in terms of gender, income, location, and socio-economic status has…

A distinct education has become a heretical right for urban elites despite educational equality is an official agenda. This has not only widened the gaps between urban and rural counterparts but also developed discriminations amongst different classes of student within the urban schools. To validate this tenet, the facilities offered by various…

This paper addresses educational inequality of access to higher education for Scottish rural communities. Inequality results from the sole use of a national socio-economic index in order to meet a key milestone for higher education goal. I show (1) how the use of this index can have adverse effects on these communities and (2) how contextual…

Education system plays a very crucial role in any country towards achieving a sustainable development and strengthening social, cultural, historical and integral development, and is often called as the back born of the society. Producing competent graduate, professional or technical expert and a responsible citizen enriched with social and…

Drawing on a broader study that focused on understanding rural college students for equity and personal growth in higher education, this paper presents Ying's story of learning and living as a female college student from rural China. Adopting the thinking tools of habitus and reflexivity, the paper aims to understand the constraints Ying has gone…

In 1999, the Chinese government implemented a higher education enrollment expansion policy to improve education equality. Now, its positive impact on educational equality is contested. This study attempts to identify the link between city administrative level and tertiary attainment in the context of the policy. Our empirical findings indicate…

Access to education is a significant determinant in future success, not only for a country but equally for individuals. Higher Education (HE) thus is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals and vital in supporting African development. Despite this, there is often a lack of access to HE in many parts of Africa, distance education can…