| Abstract: | Over half of Scottish higher education entrants in 2000/01 began their studies in further education. This reflects the growing diversity of higher education in Scotland as a result of institutional change and trends in policy and practice. While these changes have been constructed positively as contributing to the accessibility of Scottish higher education, clear differences between HE provision in the two sectors and sectoral differentiation in patterns of participation have given rise to two relatively disconnected systems of higher education. The emergence of parallel systems may conceal new patterns of inequality, giving rise to a new learning divide. |
