An historical examination of a university's scheme to find a 'fair way' for all students

• Published in: Excellence in Scholarship pp. 139 - 153
• Main Author: Burley, Stephanie
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Rotterdam SensePublishers 01.01.2013
• Subjects: Access to education; Bonus Point; Disadvantaged; Disadvantaged schools; Disadvantaged Student; Educational Disadvantage; Equal education; Equity Scheme; Higher education; Higher education programs; Marjoribanks (K); Occupational Aspiration; Universities; University of Adelaide; University role; Australia
• ISBN: 9462092559; 9789462092556
• DOI: 10.1007/978-94-6209-257-0_10

The 'Fair Way' scheme was introduced at the University of Adelaide in 1989. It is still in existence in 2006, and is a special access scheme, which provides students from under-represented or disadvantaged schools with a greater opportunity to be selected for undergraduate programs at the university. Rather than focusing on individual students, the scheme is a school focused approach, and as such, a school deemed under-represented has been defined as one, which has 'fewer students enrolling in all South Australian universities than would be expected considering the number of students attending the school'. Students from such schools do not always consider university study, or certain university programs for a number of reasons, for example, high cut off scores, financial reasons, school culture which may encourage employment rather than university study, or no family role models of university careers. The Scheme aims to 'even the playing field' for these students by providing bonus points to aid their selection in to the University of Adelaide's programs. This paper is a study of the Fairway Scheme, and introduces the origins, philosophy and research basis of the scheme, its implementation, the reviews and reports relating to its development, and concerns raised. [Author abstract]