‘Too Busy to Come’: What Future for Widening Participation?¹

The first part of the title of this chapter is taken from e-mail correspondence commenting on the fact that a mum would not be attending the graduation ceremony for her daughter, who was the first in her family to receive a higher education (HE) award. This chapter argues that if there is to be any hope of long-term sustainable change in patterns of participation in HE study, then institutions (and governments) need to focus on ways to ensure that structural changes in the relationship between HE and the widening participation of target populations take place. Moreover, maintaining relationships with these communities, populations and individuals based on market-related concepts such as customer, client or consumer will not deliver the sustainable change that is considered necessary not only in terms of social justice but also of long-term economic stability and prosperity. What follows is a description of and reflection upon the conceptual and strategic change journey that led the author to these conclusions.