The document discusses the social dimension of higher education in Europe, highlighting the need for policies that reflect diverse student populations and improve access and success rates. It emphasizes the challenges related to collecting data on students and implementing effective measures across different national systems. The authors propose a comprehensive approach through initiatives like Eurostudent and PL4SD to enhance participative equity and support diverse learners in their educational journey.

1. A comprehensive approach to investigating the social
dimension in European higher education systems –
EUROSTUDENT and the PL4SD Country Reviews
Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference FOHE-BPRC
24 – 26 November 2014, National Library, Bucharest, Romania
Dr. Dominic Orr (orr@dzhw.eu) and Shweta Mishra, PhD (mishra@dzhw.eu)
DZHW Hannover

2. The social dimension’s character of uniqueness
‘participative equity’
“the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education
at all levels [reflects] the diversity of (…) populations” in the European Higher
Education Area (EHEA) (London communiqué 2007).
…as implementation policy?
• “the social dimension is a policy item that found a way into the Bologna
Process agenda, but could not grow into an implementable policy” (Yagci
2014)
• “the [social] dimension’s limited success (and more recent displacement
from policy, if not rhetoric) can be put down in large part to the difficulties
of encapsulating complex and contested social priorities in internationally
acceptable indicators (…).” (Holford 2014)
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 2

3. EUROSTUDENT
PL4SD
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 3
Three problems
• Indicators related to social dimension of higher education call
for data on students’ (and potential students’) character and
biography
• To ensure that higher education students represent the
diversity in the student population, changes are needed at
multiple levels – the school system, admission policies, entry
routes, flexible study structures and provision for student
support and counselling services; but first you must
understand how a specific national system “works” (normal
system plus interventions)
• Still, it remains difficult to set clear overarching goals, which
are appropriate for all countries and across topic areas.

4. Collecting data for the Social Dimension: EUROSTUDENT
www.eurostudent.eu
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 4

5. EUROSTUDENT: data set of student life
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 5

6. Collecting good examples: Peer Learning for the Social Dimension
www.pl4sd.eu
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 6

7. Participative equity – 4 “moments” in a HE system
=> widening access study progression and
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 7
2. At entry to higher
education
3. Study
framework
4. Graduation
& transition
1. Before entry to higher education
Selection
Qualification and
decision-making
=> raising aspirations
completion, study-work-life
balance
=>(i) to ensure students’
learning progress and (ii) to
reduce impact of students’
need to balance the resources
of time and money on
students’ success
transition into labour market or
further educational training
=> secure a successful transition
(and perhaps to raise aspirations)

8. 10 challenges for higher education provision based on policy
discussions and measures in various countries
Access Study conditions Successful completion
Challenges
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 8
1. Facilitate participation in
HE
2. Facilitate participation in
the best courses at the
best colleges /
universities
3. Facilitate participation in
supplementary
experiences, esp.
mobility programmes
4. Support prospective
students in making the
‘right’ choices
5. Flexible provision for variable
study intensity
6. Assure the commitment of
new types of students to their
programmes
7. Provide teaching and learning
according to new pedagogical
concepts
8. Provide incentives for colleges
/ universities to retain
students and increase
completion rates
9. Provide counselling and advice
during study period
10. Facilitate the
transition of
graduates to the
labour market

9. EUROSTUDENT: Irish study shows that diverse body
means new needs
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 9
Having just filled
out the
EUROSTUDENT
survey, I realise that
I am a non-traditional
student
twitter user

10. Formative evaluations as the basis for peer
learning (and some summative evaluations)
Student groups – regular
and new
Study framework
Remedial Differentiation
Higher education from the social dimension perspective 10
Students’ abilities and
characteristics
Higher education systems
People
Processes
(Photo from Xosé Castro Roig CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)