Lifelong Learning Pathways: Addressing Participation and Diversity in Higher Education

Tertiary education plays a major role in meeting the economic, social and cultural wellbeing of both individuals and the workforce of the future (OECD, 2011). Increasing participation in tertiary education is vital for the future of all Australians with the emphasis on the provision of increased participation critical. (Gillard, 2012; Bradley, Noonan, Nugent and Scales, 2008). This project reviewed higher education pathways models in the built environment discipline (construction management, quantity surveying, estimating, project management) to ascertain their capacity to improve diversity in the student cohort. This project included three significant objectives: to analyse the efficiency of existing examples of lifelong learning/pathways models in the built environment discipline in improving diversity of student cohort to develop schema to discern and identify elements of these models that contribute to best practice in creating opportunities for student diversity To isolate and disseminate the determinants of best practice pathways models for future use by the built environment discipline and other disciplines. Dissemination of project findings across both the built environment sector and the wider higher education audience was an important objective. The project helped to bring together a network of interested educators in built environment disciplines that were enthusiastic to implement changed practice in relation to pathways models. Industry and accreditation bodies engagement overwhelmed the project leaders, and provided further dissemination and discussion about the opportunities for innovation in built environment pathways