Catherine Owen September 2012 1 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Access to higher education in Europe: issues, trends and barriers 25 th CHER 2012, Belgrade, Serbia Catherine Owen Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement University of Strathclyde Graham Hills Building 50 George Street Glasgow G1 1QE catherine.owen@strath.ac.uk Other authors: Heather Eggins, University of Strathclyde (heggins@btinternet.com) Ray Land, University of Durham (ray.land@durham.ac.uk) George Gordon, University of Strathclyde (g.gordon@strath.ac.uk) Julie Rattray, University of Durham (julie.rattray@durham.ac.uk) Abstract Access and the related matter of widening participation are re-emerging as crucial, complex and pressing priorities in terms of the governance and the social and economic effectiveness of higher education in the regions of Europe. This paper presents data from seven EU countries: Czech Republic, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and the UK collected as part of the IBAR (Identifying Barriers in Promoting European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional Level) Project. IBAR is a three-year project funded by the EACEA and led by the Centre for Higher Education Studies in Prague and the University of Durham. One of the aims of the project is to identify gaps in the current European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) and to make recommendations for future pan-European guidelines to support institutions developing effective quality systems. A key question is whether access to higher education should be recognised as a quality assurance challenge and recommendations on widening access be incorporated into the ESG. This paper considers the current status of the UK’s national widening participation agenda with the findings from other countries participating in the IBAR project and asks whether a revised ESG can accommodate the very different systems and philosophies which underpin national and institutional approaches to higher education participation. Introduction