ABSTRACT
The expansion of higher education participation has been an important feature of the educational environment in the UK during the last decade of the twentieth century. Age participation rates of 18 year olds have increased over the decade from 15% in 1989 to 31% by the year 2000, and further expansion to the year 2005 will mean that almost one in two young people continue their education beyond 18 into undergraduate study. Foskett and Hesketh (1995) have shown that some 60% of young people consider applying to HE in the UK, and some 40% actually do so. Internationally the picture of high age participation rates in higher education is now a common feature of most advanced economies (e.g. USA 45%; Australia 35%; France 28%). The shift from an elite system of HE, available to the few, to a mass system of HE, accessed by a high proportion of young people, has been apparent in many OECD countries, premised on the presumed link between higher education participation rates and national economic performance.
