Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education
This open access book addresses the current disillusionment with mass higher education and argues that it is based on a profound misunderstanding of its educational potential. The authors analyse a seven-year longitudinal research project that tracked participants who studied chemistry or chemical e...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350511590_23 |
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| _version_ | 1869514368950992896 |
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| author | Ashwin, Paul Blackie, Margaret Case, Jennifer McArthur, Jan Pitterson, Nicole Smit, Reneé Agrawal, Ashish Rosewell, Kayleigh Abdalla, Alaa Goldschneider, Benjamin |
| author_browse | Abdalla, Alaa Agrawal, Ashish Ashwin, Paul Blackie, Margaret Case, Jennifer Goldschneider, Benjamin McArthur, Jan Pitterson, Nicole Rosewell, Kayleigh Smit, Reneé |
| author_facet | Ashwin, Paul Blackie, Margaret Case, Jennifer McArthur, Jan Pitterson, Nicole Smit, Reneé Agrawal, Ashish Rosewell, Kayleigh Abdalla, Alaa Goldschneider, Benjamin |
| author_sort | Ashwin, Paul |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This open access book addresses the current disillusionment with mass higher education and argues that it is based on a profound misunderstanding of its educational potential. The authors analyse a seven-year longitudinal research project that tracked participants who studied chemistry or chemical engineering from their first year of university until up to three years after they graduated. Drawing on over 700 interviews with students/graduates from two English, two South African and two American universities, the book explores the educational intentions of their degree programmes, what participants wanted to get out of going to university and studying for a degree, how their views of knowledge and the world changed, and what they felt they had gained from going to university. The book argues that the educational potential of higher education lies, not in graduate salaries or employability, but in the ways in which engaging with structured bodies of knowledge changes students’ understanding of the world and what they can do in it. The authors consider the implications of this argument for how the educational role of higher education is understood by students, graduates, universities, and policymakers and how this understanding might be drawn upon to counter the damaging disillusionment with mass higher education that appears to be growing in many countries. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by UKRI. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-175907 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) |
| publisherStr | Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1759072026-04-20T09:20:57Z Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education Ashwin, Paul Blackie, Margaret Case, Jennifer McArthur, Jan Pitterson, Nicole Smit, Reneé Agrawal, Ashish Rosewell, Kayleigh Abdalla, Alaa Goldschneider, Benjamin STEM Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Graduates Disciplinary knowledge thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JN Education::JNM Higher education, tertiary education This open access book addresses the current disillusionment with mass higher education and argues that it is based on a profound misunderstanding of its educational potential. The authors analyse a seven-year longitudinal research project that tracked participants who studied chemistry or chemical engineering from their first year of university until up to three years after they graduated. Drawing on over 700 interviews with students/graduates from two English, two South African and two American universities, the book explores the educational intentions of their degree programmes, what participants wanted to get out of going to university and studying for a degree, how their views of knowledge and the world changed, and what they felt they had gained from going to university. The book argues that the educational potential of higher education lies, not in graduate salaries or employability, but in the ways in which engaging with structured bodies of knowledge changes students’ understanding of the world and what they can do in it. The authors consider the implications of this argument for how the educational role of higher education is understood by students, graduates, universities, and policymakers and how this understanding might be drawn upon to counter the damaging disillusionment with mass higher education that appears to be growing in many countries. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by UKRI. 2026-04-20T09:20:56Z 2026-04-20T09:20:56Z 2026-04-16T09:04:16Z 2026 book ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350511590_23 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/112278 9781350511590 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/175907 eng Bloomsbury Higher Education Research open access Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Bloomsbury Academic b7fec79e-c133-4cb3-9544-88060a4d4e06 9781350511590 Bloomsbury Academic 224 London open access |
| spellingShingle | STEM Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Graduates Disciplinary knowledge thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JN Education::JNM Higher education, tertiary education Ashwin, Paul Blackie, Margaret Case, Jennifer McArthur, Jan Pitterson, Nicole Smit, Reneé Agrawal, Ashish Rosewell, Kayleigh Abdalla, Alaa Goldschneider, Benjamin Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title | Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title_full | Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title_fullStr | Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title_short | Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education |
| title_sort | realising the educational potential of mass higher education |
| topic | STEM Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Graduates Disciplinary knowledge thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JN Education::JNM Higher education, tertiary education |
| topic_facet | STEM Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Graduates Disciplinary knowledge thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JN Education::JNM Higher education, tertiary education |
| url | ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350511590_23 |
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