ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the lack of information about students with disabilities in higher education. It describes an access programme and its objectives at University College, Dublin. The book discusses the survey carried out amongst students to find out their views about the university. Education systems which fit the former are those which exercise a significant degree of selection at a number of points throughout the learner's educational career. The book presents some case histories of winners and losers in transition which are set in the broader context of recent research into changing structures of opportunity and the ‘risk’ experienced by young people. It highlights the effects of fragmented and individualised transitions on the life-course and demonstrate the need for maximal versions of both citizenship and competence if social cohesion, economic well-being and advancement of the democratic state are to be ensured.
