Keywords

1 Introduction

The past two decades have seen a global expansion of the higher education system and a growth of international student mobility with over 4.5 million studying abroad in 2012 (Study Portals and Cambridge English 2015). The combination of these factors has resulted in the proliferation of study programs that offer non-traditional pathways to access university courses.

Some of the names used to refer to programs which provide an alternative university entry option for many local and international students who are unable to access higher education by traditional channels are: University pathway programs (Percival et al. 2016), enabling programs (Andrewartha and Harvey 2014), bridging programs (Ellis et al. 2001), direct entry programs (Agosti and Hicklin 2001), sub-bachelor programs (Pitman et al. 2016), and foundation programs (Klinger and Murray 2011). The name “university pathway programs” is adopted here since it is considered to be the one that more explicitly indicates the principal aim of these types of programs.

2 A Global Perspective

According to Neghina (2016), the university pathway program sector had a $1.4 billion turnover in 2016. At that time, the Preparation Courses Portal (Study Portals B.V. 2007–2017) listed 2,200 courses for students seeking access to studies within higher education institutions. A year earlier, English-speaking countries offered over 90% of these types of programs with approximately two thirds of them being delivered in the UK, 16% in Oceania and 12% in North America. However, with the number of English medium of instruction degree programs having more than tripled in Continental Europe since 2008, it is expected that the demand for university pathway programs will grow in that region (Study Portals and Cambridge English 2015).

Different countries and different institutions within the same country offer a choice of university pathway programs that vary in duration (generally 1 year long but also a 6 month fast track option for students with a high English language proficiency level), content, structure and in the type of institution that oversees them, namely, a public or private institution or a partnership of both (World education news and reviews 2013). In relation to this last point, the report titled New routes to higher education: The global rise of foundation programmes. The world’s first global mapping of an expanding market Footnote 1 (Study Portals and Cambridge English 2015) points out that the university pathway program providers with the largest market share in 2015 were corporate ones who held 47% of the market. These were followed by universities with 26%, colleges, with 19%, other dedicated providers and colleges with 5% and language schools with 3%. The report lists the five biggest corporate providers worldwide as Cambridge Education Group, INTO University Partnerships, Kaplan International Colleges, Navitas and Study Group. It also notes that, among them, they provide almost half of the university pathway programs available. The rationale for universities seeking partnerships with these private businesses is that they facilitate international student recruitment at a global scale which is difficult and expensive for universities to engage in independently. However, academic staff members within universities in the U.S.A. have expressed reservations about private providers being left in charge of pathway programs since they question their ability to maintain academic standards (Redden 2010).

When discussing the recent emergence of university pathway programs in the U.S.A., Redden (2010, par.13) refers to them as “an import from Australia and the United Kingdom”. This is not surprising since both these countries were among the first to offer such programs, are currently market leaders in their provision and, as Redden points out, have served as a model for programs delivered in other countries. Since Chapter 2 and several case studies included in this book provide insights into the types of programs delivered in Australia and the national and local factors that led to their development, they will not be discussed here. Instead, this chapter will now turn to an overview of the British university pathway programs.

Britain is the country where the number of university pathway programs is the highest per institution when compared with the rest of the countries that offer such programs. Some pathway programs are university-run, others are run by private providers that have agreements in place with specific universities and prepare students for entry at those specific universities. More recently, some universities have been establishing partnerships with private providers that set up international centres on campus or nearby (World education news and reviews 2013).

There are three main types of university preparation programs in Britain. They are known as Access to Higher Education Diplomas, International Foundation Programs, and University Foundation programs (World education news and reviews 2013). The Access to Higher Education Diploma is a university pathway program offered in England and Wales to mature aged British residents returning to education. Approximately 20,000 students enrol annually in the more than 1,100 such programs available. Some of these Access to Higher Education Diplomas cater for international students as well. Those Diplomas include approximately 20 hours a week of English language tuition (World education news and reviews 2013).

International Foundation Programs cater solely for international students. Many of these programs are offered at British universities and guarantee direct entry into those universities upon successful completion. Some are linked to a specific bachelor program whereas others articulate into a range of programs or a number of universities. A pioneering example is that of the Integrated Foundation Programs at the University of Leeds. These programs have been operating since 1989 and articulate into arts, business, design, engineering, joint honours and science. Some university pathway programs are being offered to international students in their countries of origin. For example, Lancaster University offers four foundation programs in China. These programs are run by four partner universities in Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai and Sichuan. International students who successfully complete foundation programs have the choice of accessing universities in the UK or campus branches in their home countries depending on the inter-institutional agreements in place (World education news and reviews 2013).

University Foundation Programs run for a whole year and aim to cater for the needs of all students whose qualifications do not meet the entry requisites or whose discipline specific knowledge is not the required. The programs are open to all students whether they are British residents or not. Upon successful completion, these University Foundation Programs typically offer entry to specific undergraduate or graduate degree programs in specific fields. Many universities have their foundation programs set up as the first of a four-year program of continuous study (for traditional three-year undergraduate programs), or perhaps ‘year zero’ of a four- or five-year program in, for example, engineering or medicine (World education news and reviews 2013).

3 Factors that Have Influenced the Development of University Pathway Programs

University pathway programs respond to contextual needs and thus have been developed for a variety of reasons. Some emerged as a response to governmental policies that aim to foster social inclusion by addressing issues of equity and access (Altbach et al. 2009; Bergman 2016; Smit 2012). Others, as was initially the case in Australia, were first developed in response to a scrutiny of the academic language and learning (ALL) preparedness of international students by local authorities (Fenton-Smith and Humphreys 2015; Green and Agosti 2011). Others, still, have been developed to address government-mandated changes to English as a medium of instructionFootnote 2 or have stemmed from a perception by course providers of an opportunity for economic growth (Altbach and Knight 2007). A more detailed explanation of these factors can be found in Chapter 2.

4 Aims and Traits of University Pathway Programs

By responding to contextual needs, university pathway programs address two of the key concerns of universities worldwide, namely, student retention and success rates (Goldingay et al. 2016). These pathway programs are of particular importance to non-traditional studentsFootnote 3 who may find the transition to higher education quite difficult (Devlin et al. 2012 cited in Goldingay et al. 2016).

However, regardless of the factors that give rise to particular iterations of university pathway programs, all of them aim to facilitate students’ development of a variety of skills. Among them are proficiency in the language used as a medium of instruction, academic literacies as well as critical thinking, research and study skills that students will need to function effectively in the higher education context. These programs also familiarise students with the socio-cultural norms that are prevalent in the context into which they are transitioning, and most also cater for student welfare needs (Study Portals and Cambridge English 2015, World education news and reviews 2013).

When considering proficiency in the language used as a medium of instruction, university pathway program developers, teachers and students might refer to Humphreys’ (2015) heuristic model reproduced below as Figure 1. Drawing on key theoretical second language acquisition (SLA) and English language proficiency (ELP) models, Humphreys’ (2015) proposes a three-dimensional model that encompasses competencies, contexts of use and proficiency. Thus, the visual representation of the heuristic model integrates the different sociopragmatic, discourse-related and linguistic competencies that students need to be able to adapt to different contexts of language use in order to develop their proficiency in that language.

Figure 1
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A Heuristic of ELP in Higher Education (Humphreys 2015: p. 298)

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Although the graphic created by Humphreys (2015) is intended to mediate a conceptualisation of the elements that constitute academic English language proficiency (AELP), they can be used as a tool to inform course design and development regardless of the language used as a medium of instruction since the dimensions noted in her model can be applied to proficiency levels in other languages.

The two graphics reproduced below as Figures 2 and 3, incorporate the time factor to show examples of how the different elements that constitute language proficiency levels might change diachronically.

Figure 2
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Commencement of Degree Hypothetical 1 (Humphreys 2015: p. 300)

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Figure 3
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End of Degree Ideal Developmental Trajectory (Humphreys 2015: p. 301)

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In regards to academic literacies,Footnote 4 it is important to note that, the plural form “literacies” alludes to the fact that, as elements of social practices, they are embedded in a specific context of culture and context of situation and adopt many forms in response to those contexts (Gee 2012; Johns 1997; Lankshear 1997; Street 1984, 1995). This makes it imperative for university pathway program developers to build into the syllabus opportunities for students to become aware of the influence that these contexts bear on academic texts (Green and Agosti 2011) so that they can produce culturally, contextually and socio-pragmatically appropriate texts (Bernat and Agosti 2010). Therefore, university pathway programs should help students develop not only academic language competence but also strategic competence (Bachman 1990) i.e., the need to adapt language use according to the function that texts fulfil in different contexts (Halliday and Hasan 1985).

University pathway programs should also raise students’ awareness of the ideological nature of academic texts (Lillis 2003). Thus, for the teaching-learning cycle within university pathway programs to be effective, it must have a four-prong approach. Firstly, it should be based on a thorough analysis of the purposes of the text types that students will encounter and will need to produce (Johns 1997). Secondly, it should explicitly draw students’ attention to the different structural patterns that are used in academic texts to achieve different purposes (Feez 1998; Halliday and Hasan 1985). Thirdly, it must make explicit the production conventions that are enacted in different modes of communication of knowledge within a higher education setting and how these modes are shaped by factors related to issues of power and distance (Bastalich et al. 2014). Fourthly, it should make students aware of how issues related to identity are intertwined with the production of texts (Lea 2004). Such a teaching-learning cycle will hopefully empower students to produce texts that achieve their intended purposes and thus enable them to function effectively within the discourse community with which they aim to engage (Green and Agosti 2011; Lea and Street 2006). In relation to this, another focus of university pathway programs should be developing students’ awareness of the need to advance academic knowledge through analysis and evaluation as steps of critical thinking and well-developed research skills (Lea 2004).

A further layer of complexity that should be taken into consideration when developing university pathway programs is that of pastoral care. Lizzio (2006) provides a useful conceptualisation of perceived students’ needs in this area while also integrating those areas discussed above. He (2006) suggests a five “senses” model which focuses on five areas identified as descriptive of students’ needs. He posits that, when these needs are met, students’ transition into higher education settings has a better chance of success. Lizzio’s (2006) visual representation of students’ needs is reproduced above as Figure 4. Lizzio (2006) also provides a checklist that staff involved in university pathway programs can use as a self-auditing tool to reflect on whether these senses are being supported in these transition programs. This checklist provides clear examples of how each “sense” can be addressed in practice.

Figure 4
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The Five Senses of Successful Transition (Lizzio 2006, p. 3)

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As is the case with Lizzio’s work, most of the literature that discusses students’ needs in relation to their first-year experience at university and suggests how to address those needs would be of help to and should inform university pathway program practice. See for example, Baik et al. (2015); Hitch et al. (2015); James et al. (2010); Kift (2008, 2009); Kift et al. (2010); Krause 2006; Larcombe and Malkin (2008); Lizzio and Wilson (2013); McKenzie and Egea (2014); Nelson (2014); Nelson et al. (2014); Priest (2009); Stirling and Rossetto (2015); and Wilson (2009).

5 Goals and Scope of the Book

The objective of this book is to showcase various university pathway programs that have been primarily developed and implemented as support mechanisms to foster the development of international and non-traditional students’ academic literacies and study skills as well as their awareness of socio-cultural norms that are prevalent in the higher education setting.

As a result of globalisation, the internationalisationFootnote 5 of curricula and a move towards social inclusion, university pathway programs are offered in various countries in order to cater for the needs of a growing number of both local and international students. Although the university pathway programs for access to the Australian higher education sector figure predominantly in this book, examples pertinent to the Canadian, New Zealand, Qatari, South African and United Kingdom’s educational institutions are also included. These examples serve to highlight the common challenges that such types of programs face despite the differences in the social, cultural and political fields characteristic of the various local settings in which they are provided.

The reader will note that, regardless of the contextual factors that gave rise to the development of the university pathway programs presented in this book, all of them constitute examples of successful responses to students’ needs in a particular higher education context. Indeed, the different case studies included in this volume highlight the difficulties, the challenges and the advantages attached to the implementation of university pathway programs, thus confirming those considered in the literature. Among the difficulties, those related to staffing include the availability of academic literacies experts, the need to bridge the gap between these specialists and content focussed lecturers, tutor turnover rates and lack of support for academics who are not allocated time within their workloads to focus on academic literacies development (Chanock et al. 2012; Magyar et al. 2011). Some difficulties involving students are linked to students’ emotional and welfare needs and the reluctance that some students might show in engaging with the socio-pragmatic, discourse, linguistic, study, critical thinking and research skills that they need to develop rather than with what they perceive as more important, that is, discipline-specific content (Goldingay et al. 2016). In relation to this, Duff (2010), Hyland (2006), Ivanič (1998) and Lea and Street (1998) posit the need for curriculum to include opportunities to develop students’ critical evaluation of academic knowledge. Other difficulties include budget and space constraints that lead to the limited availability of additional resources (Kift 2009; Thies et al. 2014). The successful responses to these difficulties put forward in the chapters of this volume attest to the advantages that university pathway programs offer to the students who attend them.

6 Book Structure and Content Overview

This introductory chapter is followed by an overarching chapter that complements it to constitute Part I titled University Pathway Programs: A Response to Global, National and Local Needs in Students’ Transition to Higher Education. In their chapter, “Positioning Pathways Provision within Global and National Contexts”, Brett and Pitman provide a useful overview of the main characteristics of as well as the main drivers for the development of university pathway programs. They describe these programs as context-bound and values-laden courses that provide alternative means of access to higher education for those students who, due to various circumstances, are unable to gain entry into university directly after finishing high school. The authors explain the need to adopt a ‘Glo-na-cal’ approach (Marginson 2004), i.e. understanding and accommodating global, national and local perspectives when trying to fully grasp the various and varying roles played by these programs. Brett and Pitman identify three main issues that have been fostering the development of such programs, namely, the international trend for higher education to become more socially inclusive; the move of some universities towards internationalisation linked to student mobility; and different economic, social, political and cultural factors that shape the national contexts of those countries where university pathway program provision is expanding. Their insightful analysis of these issues guides the reader to a better understanding of the factors that underpin the increase in offerings of university pathway programs and beyond what could otherwise be perceived as a series of case studies without any generalisable content.

Following this overarching chapter, the book presents 13 case studies organised in three parts: Part II, comprises six case studies that focus on issues regarding equity, inclusion and participation in higher education and the role played by university pathway programs in addressing those issues. Part III, Transitions from Vocational to Higher Education, includes three case studies that discuss pathway programs that articulate vocational studies into higher education studies. Part IV presents two case studies with a focus on curriculum development and pedagogical approaches in university pathway programs. The volume closes with Part V which includes two case studies that focus on internationalisation and privatisation of university pathway programs. An overview of the content of each part is presented next.

  • Part II – The Role of University Pathway Programs in Addressing Issues Related to Access, Equity, Inclusion and Participation in Higher Education.

Following Brett and Pitman’s introductory chapter, the case study presented in Chapter 3, “The Use of Enabling Programs as a Pathway to Higher Education by Disadvantaged Students in Australia”, initiates the focus on the role of university pathway programs as a means to facilitate access of non-traditional students to tertiary studies. It reports on research conducted by McKay, Pitman, Devlin, Trinidad, Harvey and Brett, six academic representatives of four Australian universities, who collaborated to measure the success of enabling programs in aiding students of low socioeconomic standing in accessing and succeeding in university studies. The chapter analyses the contextual nature of social disadvantage, identifies six groups of students who have been underrepresented at Australian universities in the past and discusses preventative and remedial measures that can promote these groups’ successful social insertion and academic achievement within higher education institutions. Based on statistical analysis of governmental data, the chapter also reports on the positive impact that university pathway programs have had in terms of academic achievement, student satisfaction and retention rates when compared to students entering universities via different pathways. The chapter also suggests areas for further research in relation to these points. The focus then turns to a typology of 48 enabling programs delivered at 27 Australian universities followed by a discussion of their shared characteristics as well as of aspects of the programs that need clarification in order for students to be able to make better-informed decisions when considering enrolment in these types of programs. The need for academic support beyond enabling programs is also considered. The chapter goes on to present the results of interviews conducted at a national level with enabling program students. The range of topics covered in the interviews is broad and includes points such as the students’ reasons for enrolling in enabling programs, how well these programs prepared them for university studies and issues to do with workload, level of difficulty, the need for the development of academic literacies skills, and the aspects that students found the most useful. The chapter concludes by presenting eight key findings regarding the variety, access and efficacy of enabling programs as a pathway to university for disadvantaged groups as well as some areas where further clarification would be beneficial for prospective students.

Chapter 4 titled “Great Expectations: African Youth from Refugee Backgrounds and the Transition to University” also focuses on the social role of Australian university pathway programs as King and Owens discuss the experiences, needs and challenges faced by African refugees in their transition to higher education studies within an Australian context. The authors report the results of interviews conducted with these students, their educators, African community leaders and social service providers. The chapter opens with an explanation of what constitutes refugee status in Australia and of this country’s role as one of the top ten refugee resettlement countries. It then discusses the educational, economic and social capital losses as well as the traumatic experiences that most refugees suffer and their link to difficulties experienced in resettlement in terms of learning new systems and cultural norms. Drawing on the work of social capital researchers, King and Owens highlight the importance of bonding and bridging social capital as facilitators of the transitional process both towards resettlement and towards access to and success in education. Next, the authors discuss the motives underlying African students’ aspirations in relation to education and career paths. The economic, cultural and social difficulties that they face while studying are noted next. The chapter then focuses on the process of cultural capital development that students undergo in their transition to university and touches on issues such as English language proficiency levels, academic literacy needs and the culturally based reluctance of African refugees to seek support. King and Owens put forward recommendations on how to bridge this cultural gap in order to foster students’ development of a support-seeking approach as a means to facilitate their cultural capital acquisition. The chapter concludes with a discussion of strategies that have successfully helped academics meet the challenges that they will encounter when teaching these students and of the areas of professional development on which they might need to embark to better support these students. Recommendations on how to address the needs of African refugee students for social and academic support and for ongoing cultural mentoring are also provided.

A further example of the role played by university pathway programs in overcoming social equity and inclusion issues related to higher education is provided by Kirby and Dempster in Chapter 5, “Alternative Access to Tertiary Science Study in South Africa: Dealing with ‘Disadvantage’, Student Diversity, and Discrepancies in Graduate Success”. The authors consider the participation of Black African students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in South African universities. After discussing the negative effects that the passing of the Black Education Act (Act 47 of 1953) had on Black Africans in South Africa, the authors focus on the current challenges faced by this country to ensure equity of access to tertiary science study and the pivotal role played by programs that provide alternative pathways in responding to that challenge. The bleak condition of the schooling system stemming from the apartheid era, the resulting low levels of literacy and numeracy and the low levels of English proficiency are also analysed as causes for student under-preparedness and, therefore, as barriers to student success at university where English is used as a medium of instruction. Kirby and Dempster then explain how the successful results of foundation programs that provided alternative access to science degrees led to their integration into regular curricula and gave rise to extended curriculum programs. A description of the two existing models of extended programs available to address different degrees of student preparedness follows. The description includes program duration and their synchronous or asynchronous nature in relation to regular university units. The authors also consider the effectiveness of these programs in addressing issues of social transformation through the provision of a more socially inclusive pathway into higher education as well as through a pursuit of the equity of outcomes. The authors analyse the challenges arising not only from a series of high school curricula redevelopments at a national level but also from the two-tiered high school education system linked to the students’ racial background. In addition, Kirby and Dempster identify the areas where changes need to be implemented in order to achieve social equality in education. Their focus then shifts to the analysis of two extended curriculum programs that provide access to the study of science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This analysis includes differences in entry requirements, curriculum design, resourcing and teaching methodology as well as the counselling and academic literacies components that both pathways have in common. The sustainability of the models and their effectiveness is also discussed. The authors then compare the performance of alternative access and direct-entry students, highlight the link between English language proficiency level and success in tertiary studies, and question the validity of entry requirements as accurate predictors of academic success. The authors state that the linguistic, educational and socioeconomic differences in the student body and the various needs that they entail are not being met in graduate programs and call for the adoption of the successful traits of enabling programs in mainstream undergraduate university courses.

The value of university pathway programs in overcoming social inclusion issues in higher education is further explored by Hall, Ross and Te Huia in Chapter 6, “Huakina mai te tatau o tōu whare: Opening University Doors to Indigenous Students”. In this chapter, the authors discuss the Tohu Māoritanga (Tohu), i.e. the Diploma of Māoritanga offered at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, as a pathway that helps indigenous Māori students transition into university study while creating a cultural sphere that affirms their Māori identity. The authors present an overview of the educational policies and legislation that require tertiary institutions to cater for Māori students’ needs and explain that it is common to find staff and resource centers dedicated to meet these students’ specific academic, welfare and cultural needs. The authors also outline a series of pre-degree programs that aim to prepare Māori students for university studies and identify the Diploma of Māoritanga as one that is notable not only due to its 30 years’ history, academic reputation and Māori cultural focus but also for being the only credit-bearing program of its kind in the country. Hall, Ross and Te Huia then consider research on acculturation theory. They focus on the four possible acculturation strategies (assimilation, separation, marginalisation and integration) to inform how the program helps a diverse group of Māori students transition into higher education. The authors then present a profile of the students that enrol in the program and highlight the identity reaffirming value that it has for Māori students. They also explain different aspects of the program and how these reflect the Māori holistic approach to teaching and learning, which requires meeting the students’ physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. The links between cultural beliefs on the value of extended family and both the staffing of programs and the peer mentoring system are discussed too. The authors then reflect on the academic, institutional and societal challenges that the program has to overcome and outline the benefits that students reap from participating in it.

Chapter 7 “Qatar University Foundation Program: A Means to Access Higher Education and a Pathway for Transformation” details the evolution of the Foundation Program at Qatar University as it adapted to students’ varying needs, to language of instruction policy changes that the University underwent in 2003 and 2012 and to the national goals set in 2008 through the Qatar National Vision 20 in which education had pride of place. In their chapter, Al-Hendawi, Manasreh, Scotland and Rogers explain the important role played by the Education City Project in the establishment of several branches of Universities from Britain, Canada, France and the United States in Qatar. The authors also discuss issues of gender-segregation, selective admission processes and proficiency in English levels of prospective students as major drivers of foundation programs that aimed for equity, accessibility and inclusion in tertiary education. However, they also point out that these programs came to be seen as barriers to tertiary education due to the English proficiency IELTS score needed for successful completion. They further explain that this triggered a return to Arabic as a medium of instruction for most university programs in 2012. This, in turn, resulted in length of delivery and curriculum changes in the Foundation programs as well as in the creation of an Embedded Program to cater for the English language needs of students enrolled in tertiary courses that have Arabic as a medium of instruction. The authors conclude their chapter with a reflection on the evolution of the Foundation Program. This reflection considers the four stages in the borrowing education process suggested by Phillip and Ochs’ (2003) namely, cross-national attraction, decision, implementation, and integration.

In Chapter 8 “Come One, Come All: The Question of Open Entry in Enabling Programs”, Hodges contributes to the debate of whether the goal of widening participation is better served by open entry or restrictive entry pathway programs into Higher Education, and argues that this debate has – at times – been poorly informed. The author notes that of the 35 university pathway programs available in Australia, almost half are open entry, that is, they place no restrictions on applicants. Hodges explains that while the open entry option is attractive to prospective students, these types of programs place additional financial and resourcing burden on the universities or colleges that offer them. The author further notes that, despite institutional efforts to mitigate some of the risk factors, students admitted to open entry pathway programs experience higher rates of attrition. Hodges discusses in-depth some of the cost, risk and benefit factors of both open and restrictive entry options. He also provides an insightful analysis of the issues surrounding the challenge of ensuring the maintenance of academic standards and calls for appropriate benchmarking procedures to be developed and implemented consistently across the sector. Hodges concludes by calling for a thorough analysis and sector-wide decision-making as to which entry option to adopt.

  • Part III – Transitions from the Vocational to the Higher Education Sector.

The following three chapters focus on the transition experienced by students articulating from vocational studies into university ones. Chapter 9, “Filling the Skills Gap in Australia – VET Pathways” presents an innovative Australian pathway program developed with governmental funding support by a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) tertiary institution in collaboration with five universities. In this chapter, Beckley, Netherton and Barber explain that this program was developed as an articulation between the vocational education and training (VET) and the university sectors in order to broaden participation, retention and successful completion of university studies by low socioeconomic background students and others who, for various reasons, do not have direct access to university studies. The authors provide an overview of the changing relationship between these sectors and its positive academic, workplace-related and economic outcomes for both students and providers. The authors also point out the challenges regarding completion and academic success level that low socioeconomic background students completing these types of pathway programs encounter when undertaking university studies. Beckley, Netherton and Barber report findings of the evaluation of and research on the VET pathways conducted by all the universities involved in the development of these pathways. These findings include student responses that reveal both the positive results that these programs yield and the need to provide students with on-going support to help them overcome problems related to personal, pedagogic, relational and cultural factors. The authors also present two case studies, one from the University of Western Sydney and another one from the University of Technology, which illustrate strategies to facilitate a smooth transition to university studies. These strategies relate to the development of an articulation framework between the VET and university sectors and to increasing students’ academic preparedness. In addition, the authors report the results of student surveys conducted to gauge the impact that these programs had on participants. Based on these results, they make recommendations on how to develop and maintain effective pathway programs.

Chapter 10 presents a different aspect of the VET pathway programs. In “The TAFE/VET Pathways Student Experience in Higher Education”, Ellis focuses on students who access higher education after completing a qualification at the state-run Technical and Further Education (TAFE) tertiary institutions or a vocational education and training course (VET) offered within the public and private education sectors. After discussing the contextual factors that determined the creation of such pathways, namely the push at a state and federal level for a more inclusive educational system, the author compares the performance of TAFE/VET pathway students to that of students who accessed university studies from other institutions. Ellis presents findings regarding pathway students’ distribution across universities, their choice of discipline and their academic achievement. He also looks at the institutional and personal factors that affect both retention and attrition rates and highlights the importance of early intervention to ensure that TAFE/VET pathway students make a successful transition into university studies.

The last chapter in this section is “Seamless Segues from Polytechnic to University: A New Zealand Case Study of a Dual Provider Partnership”. In this chapter, Lyon, Richardson and Fraser discuss a university pathway program offering management and computing degrees in a range of specialisations. The program is delivered by the Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (TOM)- formerly known as The Bay of Plenty Polytechnic- working in conjunction with the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The authors describe the institutions that configure the country’s tertiary education sector, the strategies put in place to foster collaboration between them as well as the changing demographics of the student body that accesses them. They also explore the relationship between both the Government’s Tertiary Education Strategy 2014–2019 (Ministry of Education 2014) and the manifesto Bay of Plenty Tertiary Intentions Strategy 2014–2019 (Priority One 2015). They then outline the changes introduced in university pathway programs in order to prepare students for effective participation in evolving industries and a global economy. The authors note the cultural, academic and logistic challenges that result from alliances between universities and institutes of technology and polytechnics. They conclude with an explanation of how the TOM’s university pathway program has successfully overcome those challenges to deliver multiple benefits for the students that participate in it.

  • Part IV – Issues of Curriculum and Pedagogy in University Pathway Programs.

This section comprises two chapters that delve into the areas of curriculum development and pedagogical approaches in connection with university preparation programs. “Pathways and Praxis: Designing Curriculum for Aspirational Programs” by McKnight and Charlton is the first chapter in this part. It examines the university pathway programs curriculum design process undertaken at the Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University. The authors explain that these programs aim to meet the needs of both urban and rural students, including Indigenous students, undertaking units within the Associate Degrees of Arts and Education. McKnight and Charlton describe the challenges of navigating the contemporary neoliberal Australian tertiary sector landscape within which the curriculum emerges out of ‘complex discursive entanglements’, particularly around race and class. McKnight and Charlton note that, although approximately half of the universities in Australia offer Associate Degrees, these are not generally framed as university pathway programs, making Deakin’s transdisciplinary entry programs unusual in the Australian context. The authors discuss the guiding philosophies for their innovative curriculum design, with the end product not only informed by practical transition pedagogy choices but also by their personal epistemologies. They explain how the units of teaching and learning designed for these programs reflect a highly collaborative endeavour between academic and professional staff, working alongside, for example, career counsellors. McKnight and Charlton emphasise the need to look beyond the instrumental requirements of curriculum design and to consider the myriad of complex social and cultural factors at play in the context where university pathway programs are to be delivered.

The second chapter in this section, “Students on the Threshold: Commencing Student Perspectives and Enabling Pedagogy” is authored by Stokes. She considers the push for social inclusion that has taken place within Australian universities in the last decade as a result of governmental policies and how university pathway programs have been developed to meet the needs of students from equity groups. The author presents the results of a survey of 200 commencing university pathway program students conducted at a South Australian university including both quantitative and qualitative data. After describing the characteristics and expectations of the cohort, she applies critical pedagogy and adopts a constructivist approach to analyse their responses and to put forward pedagogical recommendations that could help improve retention, completion and success rates in future deliveries of university pathway programs. Stokes discusses the most common problems faced by non-traditional students, namely, language and cultural barriers, being “first in family” at university, anxiety about formal education and work commitments. The author then suggests strategies that may help to overcome these problems such as making students aware of the services and assistance available to university students to deal with academic, financial and personal difficulties. She argues that university pathway programs can aid non-traditional students in their transition into university life by implementing a critical, respectful and empathetic dialogic pedagogy. This type of pedagogy explores their needs, engages them through problem-solving and research projects, and fosters their understanding of academic culture and literacies through different scaffolding techniques. Stokes further explains that dialogic pedagogy acknowledges the value of students’ diverse knowledge and experience base. The author discusses several other strategies to facilitate students’ transition to university.

  • Part V – Internationalisation and Privatisation of University Pathway Programs.

As in the previous section, this part includes two chapters. The first one, “Quality and Innovation for International Pathway Programs: Good Practice and Recommendations for the Future in the UK Context and Beyond” is written by Anthony Manning, the Dean for Internationalisation at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Manning is well-positioned to explain the rapid growth that international pathway programs have experienced in the United Kingdom in recent decades as a consequence not only of globalisation but also of the increase in fees for local students and of the capping of local student recruitment imposed on tertiary institutions by the government. The author points out that, in this context, university pathway programs are a means to maintain and grow the number of full-fee paying international students who can articulate to undergraduate studies. Although he mentions that the international pathway programs include International Foundation Programs, Pre-masters Programs and Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes courses, his focus in this chapter is mainly on markers of quality and innovation in International Foundation Programs that ensure a premium response to international students’ needs. In relation to quality, Manning discusses the following five areas: Linkage and connections with the host Higher Education Institution, considerations related to private or university-led provision, program structures, student welfare and experience, and experience of assessment and external/commercial examining. In relation to innovation, he considers cross-curricular collaboration among university colleagues and examines practices beyond the United Kingdom such as those of Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and Community College pathway programs in the United States of America.

Rahilly and Hudson provide an insight into the initial delivery of university pathway programs in Canada in the second chapter of this section: “Canada’s First International Partnership for a Pathway Program”. The authors recount the journey on which Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada embarked in collaboration with Navitas – a stock market listed company and a major provider of university pathway programs – in order to establish a pathway college for its future students. Fraser International College (FIC) was set up as such a college. Its aim was to give students access to many of the university’s facilities and support services including the university’s residential accommodation, the library, careers services, medical services, and recreational clubs, among others. The partnership is described as highly successful, generating consistently positive student outcomes with an average of 92% of student matriculation rate into SFU degree programs. One of the key success factors was the recruitment of international students as part of a wider university strategy. Rahilly and Hudson emphasise the importance of social, cultural, and academic integration of international students, describing various peer programs offered by FIC that help these students to achieve success. Another success factor was the close collaboration with SFU Faculties to ensure that the pathway curriculum was not only based on transition pedagogy but also facilitated a smooth progression into the particular field of students’ future study. The authors conclude by detailing the success factors in SFU’s change management processes, such as providing a strong rationale for the new direction into pathways education, involving its staff in the decision-making process, encouraging strong staff engagement, and ensuring that policies and procedures reflected the new partnership between the university and the college.

7 Concluding Reflections

The variety of existing university pathway programs discussed in this book showcases the multidimensional and complex nature of higher education institutions and demonstrates that, regardless of the contextual differences, university pathway programs must focus on issues identified by a combination of academic literacies and a transition pedagogical approach. Thus, university pathway programs must make students aware of complex and diverse written and oral genres, of the functional stages that can be found in texts and how these relate to cultural norms, and of the purposes of research and its links with critical thinking (Goldingay et al. 2016; Grace et al. 2011; Lea 2004). This entails making explicit “norms, values and conventions” (Jacobs 2005) used to access, analyse, evaluate and contribute to knowledge at a higher education level within various disciplines. Not surprisingly, designing, implementing and delivering relevant and effective university pathway programs for prospective tertiary students presents many challenges irrespective of their focus being generic or discipline-specific (Abasi and Graves 2008; Agosti 2006; Johnson 2008; and Lebcir et al. 2008). The challenges include, but are not limited to, the development of an effective diagnostic tool to identify students’ needs; designing a syllabus that addresses those needs while apprenticing students to the specific academic literacy practices and expectations embedded in the academic discourse community of which they will partake once they commence their university studies (Gee 2008; Lea 2004; Lillis and Scott 2007; Wingate 2006); scaffolding the analysis of discipline-specific genres and related text types (Paltridge 2006) and of the assessment tasks that they will encounter; incorporating teachers’ expectations about students’ academic literacy and study support needs as well as recognising students’ own beliefs about those needs (Hallett 2013; Velliaris and Breen 2014); catering for non-traditional students and hiring teaching staff equipped with the skills required to teach on these programs (Agosti and Bernat 2008).

In addition to these challenges, the case studies included in this book point to another difficulty that these programs face and that adds a substantial layer of complexity to the university pathway scene: these programs constitute localised responses to needs related to and shaped by the social, cultural and political fields in which they function. Evidently, the varying degrees of success that they achieve will depend on the power struggles that take place in those fields and on how these programs are positioned within those fields (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992). This makes it difficult to make valid generalisations regarding features that will make university pathway programs a successful response in different contexts. An example of this difficulty is the conflicting views presented in Chapter 3 and Chapter 10 regarding the levels of preparedness for university of students using different access pathways. However, the experiences recounted in this volume will undoubtedly provide valuable insights to guide future practice in this field. In reporting the successes and difficulties in the areas of curriculum development and implementation, of cross-sector collaboration and of student needs in university pathway programs, this volume aims to promote reflection and a fruitful conversation on these issues and, therefore, to better equip those education practitioners embarking on the university pathway program journey.

As such, this book does not purport to have covered all possible areas of research related to these issues. Future research will hopefully fill some of the gaps present in the current volume such as the participation of indigenous Australians in university pathway programs, aspects related to internationalisation and an in depth reflection on an academic literacies approach in university pathway programs. In order for education practitioners to be guided towards best practice, it would be valuable to have access to more case studies that explain factors which have influenced the development of such programs, what their aims and traits are and how they address local and international students’ various and varying needs. Let the conversation begin!