The 'University of Opportunity' : towards an outreach strategy for students from non traditional academic backgrounds

Some universities find themselves caught in a bind when trying to find a balance between attracting sufficient students to make courses viable and setting entry levels that maintain academic standards. At the University of Western Sydney the construction management discipline has greatly increased its first year student intake in recent years largely due to decreased demand in other discipline areas. This has resulted in a lower university entry cut offs than in previous years. Consequently it has been necessary to develop new strategies which allow students without firm academic backgrounds to adapt to the requirements of a university education and become discerning thinkers as well as competent operators in the commercial world. Construction is not a pure academic discipline. Success in this field outside the university is not closely correlated with academic rigour as defined by the traditional sciences. These circumstances create an opening for 'Universities of Opportunity' who will target students who are motivated to achieve but do not have the cultural background to automatically know what is expected of them in the academic context. These students do not necessarily lack ability but they do often lack tacit knowledge about behaviour systems which are needed for traditional university study. They may need remedial teaching in some specific areas. Using student feedback and surveys the most commonly experienced problems can be identified and strategies developed for closer engagement between academic staff and students. The result is an evolving system which puts more emphasis on 'value adding' with the students who present themselves as opposed to a strategy of competing for a decreasing pool of elite high school graduates.