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High Status Professions, Their Related Degrees and the Social Construction of ‘Quality’

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Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education

Abstract

The massification of higher education has seen an increase in students who have been traditionally underrepresented in universities. However, these non-traditional students remain underrepresented in elite universities and in high status degrees. This chapter critically engages with the idea of ‘quality’ as it relates to elite professions and their related university degrees. Specifically, it offers observations on assumptions about ‘quality’ that underpin input models of university admission systems to high status degrees and the social construction of talent and quality within the professions themselves. The chapter also presents original research on first-in-family medical students and how they understand and experience ideas about ‘quality’. The chapter argues that there is much critical work to be done to de-naturalise notions of ‘quality’ in relation to such elite contexts.

For equity to have real teeth, proportional representation also needs to apply across institution and course types. Short of this, it will be difficult to argue that the policy or at least its equity intent, has been successful.

(Gale 2012, p. 246)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Erica Southgate, Susan Grimes & Jarrad Cox

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  1. Erica Southgate
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  2. Susan Grimes
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  3. Jarrad Cox
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Correspondence to Erica Southgate .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

    Mahsood Shah

  2. Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia

    Jade McKay

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Southgate, E., Grimes, S., Cox, J. (2018). High Status Professions, Their Related Degrees and the Social Construction of ‘Quality’. In: Shah, M., McKay, J. (eds) Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78316-1

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