ABSTRACT

Researchers on Scottish higher education have expressed concern at the stratification of universities within a structurally unified sector and the bias of access by social class. Raab and Storkey (2001: 16-17) found that advantaged students were over-represented in the ancient universities, which are the most exclusive Scottish universities, in which they increased their enrolment from 1996-1997 to 1998-1999. McLaurin and Osborne (2002) and Osborne and McLaurin (2006) found that the ancient and old universities enrolled about half the proportion of students transferring from further education as the new, least exclusive universities. Morgan-Klein (2003: 351) reported that ‘there is clear evidence that elite universities attract mainly middle-class students, while the post-1992 universities and the FE colleges are more successful in attracting students from lower socio-economic groups and from disadvantaged areas’. Field (2004: 12) concluded that ‘The differential distribution of articulation arrangements, and of less formal arrangements for progression, has created a multi-track system’ and further that ‘articulation in Scotland may be producing a new binary divide’ (ibid.: 10). Gallacher expressed the same concern, specifically about the prospects of further education graduates being able to transfer to elite institutions:

However, if the ‘elite’ institutions do not provide access routes for nontraditional students, including those who wish to transfer from FE colleges with HNC/D qualifications, this can be viewed as a form of stratification, which limits opportunities. It must, of course, be recognised that many students will make positive choices not to apply for, or enter these institutions. However, it is important that appropriate opportunities are there for those who wish to pursue their studies in these institutions.