Building human capital: The key role of university-based enabling programs: a case study from an Australian regional university
Creators: name: Bookallil, Cheryl Margaret Diane
Publisher: name: Central Queensland University
Year: 2019
Subjects: Enabling programs
University-based enabling programs
Outcomes

description: Enabling programs provide alternative pathways for transition to university study. They have the capacity to be life-changing for individuals and to develop the stock of human capital for the nation. Providing educational opportunities through university-based enabling programs fulfils an equity and social justice agenda to increase access for disadvantaged groups to university. However, high rates of attrition from enabling programs and low rates of articulation into undergraduate study continue to frustrate the accomplishment of this goal. Previous research on enabling programs has taken a deficit model approach focussed upon the nature of the inputs as low-skilled and disadvantaged individuals. Alternative and subjective measures to classify outcomes have been proposed despite emerging evidence that student demographics are not the deciding factor in academic success. This thesis proposes that the key role of enabling programs in addressing educational disadvantage could be better evaluated by an achievement model approach using an unambiguous measure of success with a focus on outputs rather than inputs. The purpose of university enabling programs in Australia is defined in the Higher Education Support Act as a course of instruction provided for the purpose of enabling the person to undertake a course leading to credentialed learning. This thesis evaluates outcomes of enabling programs with respect to articulation into, and completion of, a qualification listed under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Such an unambiguous measure can be applied to evaluate all enabling programs, despite any complexity the diversity of these programs across the Australian higher education sector may present. This case study examined the experience of students from one of the largest, and longest running, enabling programs in Australia. Analysis was conducted through an economic lens by applying the Theory of Human Capital. This archetypical case study involved a mixed methods research framework that integrated both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis. The research commenced with focus groups that made qualitative contributions for understanding the student experience and past choice behaviours. An online survey gathered both quantitative and qualitative data for analysing the links between motivational forces for enrolment in enabling and subsequent academic outcomes. A choice experiment was embedded within the online survey to quantitatively model the main influences on decisions to articulate from enabling to undergraduate study and the relative strength of the trade-offs made between these influences that might predict future choice behaviours. Aim one was to explore the link between motivation to enrol and successful completion of a university-based enabling program. The research found that successful completion of an enabling program may be predicted from the students’ initial motivation for enrolling. Career advancement was a stronger motivating force for success than was the desire for personal development. Having incurred opportunity costs in the form of employment and/or salary foregone was the strongest predictor for completion of the enabling program, articulation to undergraduate level and subsequent achievement of a university qualification. Aim two was is to identify the key factors that represent barriers to successful completion of enabling programs and determine if these factors vary across demographic groups. Focus groups and survey analyses provided some insights into a possible multidimensional problem relating to the enrolment of recent school leavers in university enabling programs designed for mature aged learners. While females are the dominant gender in enabling programs, and they experience greater academic success than males, some females may suffer from domestic pressures that impact upon their completion and articulation decisions. Survey respondents who reported lower household incomes at the time of enrolment in enabling study were more likely to be in the group who persisted through to graduation from a university degree than respondents who reported higher household incomes. Aim three was to measure the value added by university-based enabling programs in terms of workforce participation and increased incomes for individuals. Statistical analyses revealed a significant difference in employment and increased incomes for those students who persisted on their educational journey through to graduation from university compared to those students who did not articulate from enabling to undergraduate study. No evidence was revealed to support previous claims that enabling study as a stand-alone education initiative facilitated any increase in the students’ economic circumstances with respect to employment or incomes. Aim four was to build a predictive model for the drivers and barriers to articulation from enabling study into university degree programs. A greater likelihood of gaining professional employment was overwhelmingly the most important influence on articulation decisions and attracted the greatest willingness to pay, in terms of accumulating a HEC-HELP debt, for their degree program. Survey respondents who were the least successful had the highest opinion of their chances of gaining professional employment without a university degree. The response rate to both the focus groups and the survey in this case study allows for some generalizability of these results and provides a prototype that could be replicated across the higher education sector to enhance our knowledge in this important area of research. This study shows the value of university enabling programs is not in the program per se but in the ability to start students on educational trajectories that must be completed to reap the benefits.