Skip to main content

IYTT launches proposals on higher education

Monday, January 16, 2023

The International Youth Think Tank presents a new research review and policy proposal on widening participation in higher education. The launch will take place at an open lunch seminar at the Gothenburg School of Business and Economics on February 10.

Poster för event

In December, the International Youth Think Tank published an overview of policy and research on the issue of widening participation in higher education. "Widening Participation and Career Guidance: Filling Quotas or Enabling and Empowering?" is the third in IYTT's series of "Working Papers". This time it is written by Erik Toshach, MA in History of Ideas and Assistant Fellow at the International Youth Think Tank.

The overview shows that participation in higher education is still characterized by large inequalities between groups in society. Although the issue is high on the political agenda - both in Sweden and internationally - progress is slow. Erik Toshach believes that new strategies are needed.

Man i diskussion i kreativ miljö

- The research shows that decision-makers have largely relied on the universities' ability to broaden their participation themselves, a strategy that unfortunately has a number of problems. The conclusion I draw is that new approaches are needed, he says.

 

Important for democracy

The fact that everyone is provided with the same conditions to achieve higher education is significant for a democratic and sustainable society. This is something that is established both at a national level and within the EU and in the European educational cooperation EHEA.

- Our decision-makers see that democratic society is facing major technical and economic challenges with climate change and digitization, which in turn are closely related to social and political challenges such as polarization and populism, says Erik Toshach. Increasing and broadening the knowledge level of the population is one way to meet these challenges.

Disseminated to decision-makers

Erik Toshach has written the overview as part of the work to develop a proposal launched by IYTT's international youth conference in autumn 2021. The proposal wants to see a greatly expanded and deepened study guide at upper secondary school to give young people from home environments less accustomed to studying tools to apply to the university. With the support of Eriks Toshach's work, the think tank's young people have further developed their proposal into a concrete "Policy Brief", which is to be distributed to decision-makers at all levels.

Lunch seminar, the program in brief

  • Presentation of the research review "Widening Participation and Career Guidance: Filling Quotas or Enabling and Empowering?"
  • Fresh results from the IYTT youth panel.
  • Launch of the policy proposal "High School Career Service and Mentorship Programme".
  • Panel with representatives from academia and industry comments.

Here you will find the research overview:

 

Program and registration for the seminar:

 

-
Handelshögskolan, Göteborg
man på scen pratar intensivt

Gothenburg Democracy Talks

Higher Education: For the Elite of for Everyone?