The transition from vocational to higher education from the perspective of higher education admission staff

Abstract

Internationally there are ongoing attempts to increase both the participation rate in Higher Education (HE) and to widen access to underrepresented groups. On the part of the individual this pressure emanates from a growing realization of the importance of a university level education to access well paid, interesting jobs. From a government perspective, investment in increasing the number of students entering HE is fuelled by the belief that this will increase productivity and economic growth, while also attracting inward foreign investment by increasing the pool of skilled labour (Brown et al., 2011).