ABSTRACT
Inequality in participation and access to Higher Education has a long history extending back to mediaeval times. The interplay between external influences such as industrialisation and centralised policy change has shaped spatial and societal Higher Education access patterns. This chapter introduces some of the literature and arguments that underlie and provide context for the empirical analysis presented throughout this book. Higher Education is in a sustained turbulent period of growth in which it has transformed from a minority to a mass market system, with very rapid growth over the last 50 years. Various initiatives have created numerous organising bodies, each with their own data and collection mechanisms. Funding for Higher Education is presently improving, although there remains a legacy of underfunding which has left many institutions with large deficits. In a mass model of Higher Education, basic marketisation has been actioned through the introduction of variable fees as a method of rectifying these deficits and sustaining an internationally competitive sector.
