The higher education system is unfair and unequal. Students experience inequalities in areas such as access to university, transition to university, sense of belonging, academic grades, and career opportunities.
For some groups of students, these inequalities are more frequent and regular than others and can often be mapped onto their different and intersecting social identities and locations.
Some of these students will hold preconceived notions of what a university student should be like, and these can impact their learning experience. This can be most apparent in groups who may have had different schooling experiences to the majority of their peers, such as mature students. Students from underrepresented groups such as minority ethnic students, and students from working-class backgrounds often have limited or no previous knowledge of higher education and don’t feel entitled to use or ask for support.
This doubles down on any lack of belonging they might have already felt within the academic community.
