ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how students used their agency to navigate the resource constraints and structural arrangements. It focuses on student experiences of converting resources into capabilities and functioning's for equal participation. The chapter attempts to capture the enabling factors that contribute towards equal participation. It aims to track how student agency, resistance and resilience and worked against personal and structural constraints. Student narratives show the complexity of arrangements that fostered participation despite limitations. The chapter describes five clusters of conversion factors that were found to increase participation: affiliation with lecturers; affiliation with peers; the platform for voice; access to information; and recognition of capabilities. The enabling pedagogical and institutional arrangements suggest what is possible when students and staff enact agency and resistance despite systemic inequality. Many opportunities were associated with peer and lecturer affiliation, while platforms for student voice, access to critical knowledge, and the recognition of student capabilities also enhanced the freedom to participate.
