Welcome to FACE 2010
Southampton Solent University is delighted to be hosting the 2010 FACE Annual Conference – 'Which way now to widen participation? Lifelong learning, Economy & Society'. We are proud of our record on access and widening participation and I believe that we are the first institution to host the conference for a second time (previously as Southampton Institute).
There has been real progress in terms of widening participation over the last five years in the face of considerable and entrenched barriers relating to social background and location, most notably, as the latest research shows, for young participation from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This is good news. The economic downturn and projected reductions in expenditure for higher education provide distinct challenges, of course, in sustaining and extending progress in this agenda.
However, the lessons learned in recent years, the networks across the sector for sharing good practice and the embedding of much of what was originally labelled as widening participation as mainstream should give us cause for satisfaction, even optimism.
This conference provides an excellent opportunity for us to see how far we have come, how much we have learned and how well we can work together to ensure that those with the ability to study in higher education are given the best chance of doing so.
I hope you have an enjoyable and productive conference.
Professor Van Gore
Vice Chancellor
Southampton Solent University