Promoting inclusion through flexible pathways into and within higher education

This webinar examined how flexible pathways, admission and assessment design, and preferential admissions can widen students’ access and completion in higher education. This is currently a key topic in Europe, especially against the background of persistent inequalities in who enters, progresses and graduates higher education. The event brought together the findings from a forthcoming ENESET report on flexible learning pathways in Europe and beyond, presented by Thomas Farnell (Institute for the Development of Education, Croatia), evidence on how the design of university entrance exams shapes gender gaps by Caterina Calsamiglia (ICREA, Barcelona Supercomputing Center) and evidence from a randomised controlled trial of Chile's PACE preferential admissions programme by Michela Tincani (University College London). 

Together, the presentations highlighted that flexible routes and preferential admissions can widen participation and raise attainment, but that their effects depend on how they are designed, how well they connect with other measures, and on student support. Thomas Farnell showed that flexible learning pathways are prominent in policy, but that evidence on their impact remains uneven and limited. Caterina Calsamiglia showed that a rule applied equally to everyone is not necessarily equally good at capturing merit. Finally, Michela Tincani showed that PACE, which waived the entrance exam for the top 15% of students in disadvantaged Chilean schools and offered orientation and optional tutoring, raised graduation from selective universities by 4.5 percentage points (24%) without increasing overall dropout from higher education. 

A panel discussion and Q&A followed, moderated by Cosmin Nada (ENESET Quality and Advice Committee member), with participants contributing via Padlet and the webinar chat. In the discussion, speakers challenged the idea that widening access necessarily compromises quality, stressing that the effect of flexible and preferential routes depends on many factors, including students' preparation, the support and guidance they receive, and careful piloting and evaluation before policies are scaled up.

Key takeaways for policy and practice

• Understand flexible pathways as a strategic priority in higher education: flexible learning pathways can serve several goals at once, from social mobility to demographic change and labour-market needs, but they need to be linked to lifelong learning, skills, and equity and inclusion policies. 
• Build coherent and integral systems: available programmes, access and re-entry routes, flexible delivery, and enabling system and institutional conditions work best together rather than as isolated measures. An example from Ireland was highlighted for building a system that links access policy, institutional strategy, student support, national coordination and a strong recognition of prior learning framework.
• Ensure that shorter qualifications lead somewhere: short-cycle programmes and micro-credentials create more entry points, but unless they are embedded in qualifications frameworks and open routes to further study, they risk becoming dead ends, even where they have value of their own. 
• The evidence base is uneven: evidence on some access measures, such as preparatory programmes, is strong, but monitoring and evaluation of the uptake, outcomes and impact of flexible learning pathways on learners remain limited.
• Assess the programmes’ quality by what they deliver, not by students' entry route: quality depends on whether programmes meet a need and support students to reach the intended learning outcomes, not on whether students arrived through traditional or flexible routes. However, selection still matters, since current admission tools are sometimes poor at identifying who would benefit most from a programme.  
• Support students before and during their studies: preparatory "enabling" programmes, as in Australia, have improved access, retention, confidence and academic readiness, and flexible delivery helps most when backed by adequate support once students are enrolled.
• Help students choose: when opportunities expand, accurate information and guidance on how demanding programmes are could be a low-cost way to help students pick the option that suits them.