The EQUNET project was conceived as an independent research and networking initiative, with an aim to increase access to Higher Education for all marginalised and non-traditional groups based on a principle of equity. With the help of European Commission funding under the Lifelong Learning Programme, the project has brought together a consortium of renowned research organisations and stakeholder representatives to work on the project, ensuring a sound methodological base for the research presented here, and a wide audience to which to distribute the recommendations.
As originally conceived, the network has committed to research barriers arising as a result of:
- Educational background (issues revolving around recognition of non-formal and informal education, or non-traditional types of formal learning such as access for young persons who have been schooled at home, and distance learners)
- Socioeconomic conditions (issues revolving around access for people in employment, with family commitments, coming from divergent income groups, by level of dependency upon parents etc.)
- Structural problems in Higher Education (dealing with issues such as curricula, governance structures, admissions standards, funding policies etc.).
The project initially set out to analyse the degree and nature of these barriers for individuals from five target groups, namely
- ‘traditional’ students (i.e. 18-22 year olds)
- Migrants
- Continuing learners (professionals building upon a degree)
- Adult learners (without a degree or changing profession)
- Post-Professionals, i.e. those at the end of the lifelong learning curve
In terms of its networking activities, the EQUNET consortium believes that in order to have an impact on equity in Higher Education, as on any complex and multifaceted societal theme, it is fundamental to involve all possible categories of stakeholders and to mobilize all the existing advocacy and decision making energies and dynamics that lay around the theme. Given the specificity of the theme addressed, EQUNET does not intend to create a “new” network nor a “network of networks”, but rather to represent a thematic hub where institutions and individuals working on Higher Education and peers working on equity-assurance can meet, exchange knowledge, and shape a more equitable future for European universities.
In line with this reasoning, EQUNET is aiming at building an evidence-based advocacy network aiming at raising awareness on the issue of equity in Higher Education. The network deals with:
- policy advocacy, by contributing to shaping EU and if possible national policies in its field. Its main concern is to shape agendas by influencing legislation and guaranteeing the representation of interests at the European level (and at a national or regional level);
- dissemination and cross fertilisation, by promoting the EQUNET research findings and by fostering the exchange of best HE equity practices among relevant stakeholders and communities. As a European dissemination network it acts as a platform for mainstreaming and benchmarking of good practices at the Member states level;
- resources documentation, by supporting the creation of an open archive for equity-related documents and resources.
