Summary: Drawing on the findings of a two year ESRC-funded study of Universal Access and Dual Regimes of Further and Higher Education, the paper will examine the impact of a two-sector system of further and higher education on strategies to widen participation in English undergraduate education.  Why have efforts to expand higher education in further education settings stalled?  What are the implications for democratisation of access and diversion of demand?

Profile: Gareth Parry is Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield.  Previously he held academic positions at Surrey, Warwick and City Universities and the University of London Institute of Education.  The early part of his career was spent teaching in further education colleges in London.  He has been a consultant to the Dearing committee of inquiry into higher education (1996-97) and the Foster review of further education colleges (2004-05).  His research is focused on policy reform and system change in tertiary education.  In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the society for Research into Higher Education.