The special issue, edited by Prof. Nairz-Wirth, Prof. Sarah O’Shea and Franziska Lessky explores the diverse range of inequalities encountered by learners throughout the student lifecycle and explores the policy implications in both an international and national context. Deeper understanding of how students move through the higher education landscape is key to efforts to increase representation and such an increase has been identified as an important driver of access and retention programs. Drawing on global perspectives, the issue provides insights into how inequity manifests itself and the various ways that policy makers can work to improve access, participation and outcomes for underrepresented groups in the field of higher education.

Read more about the issue here: ►https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14653435/2021/56/1

The article, Informational capital and the transition to university: First-in-family students’ experiences in Austrian higher education, by Lessky, Nairz-Wirth and Feldmann, addresses the student life cycles stages of transitioning in and transitioning through higher education. It considers how students who are first in their families to attend university navigate the transition into the higher education environment. Lessky, Nairz-Wirth and Feldmann identify how—without higher education experience in their family—students may find accessing the necessary informational capital for university entry to be both difficult and complex. The article discusses the ways that access to informational capital may be curtailed both by peer networks and institutional practices.

Read more: ►https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejed.12437

Sabine Weiß discusses in her thought piece Fostering sense of belonging at universities why experiencing a sense of belonging at university is key to success in higher education. By drawing on student voices as well as current literature in the field of research on higher education, Sabine reflects on how universities should support students in order to strengthen students’ sense of belonging.

Read more: ►https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejed.12439