Over the past 40 years, global tertiary expansion has been driven in part by the rise of the non-university sector. The growth of this sector, which includes vocational colleges, also contributes to increasingly diverse national higher education systems. Prior research has focused on inter-state variation in national systems, while very few…

Government reports and documents claim that building a high skill society is critical for national success in China. In this paper, eight policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of upskilling are examined. Applying the principles of critical policy analysis, the paper aims to expose the ideological presuppositions made in…

This dissertation consists of three papers. In each paper, I use applied econometric methods to study the interaction between immigration policy and the postsecondary policy. The findings offer insights about how immigration policy can influence the education outcomes of undocumented individuals. In my first paper, I explore the effect on…

Receiving a college education has perhaps never been more important than it is today. While its personal, societal, and overall economic benefits are well documented, too many college students fail to complete their postsecondary education. As colleges and universities are investing substantial resources into efforts to counter these attrition…

Individuals with disabilities are less likely than their peers without disabilities to be employed or enrolled in postsecondary education. Even with federal legislation efforts designed to provide targeted supports to this population, the discrepancy persists. Students with disabilities who attend schools in rural settings may experience…

Centering the experiences and expertise of students who have gone through non-degree programs and pathways is critical to developing policy that effectively and equitably promotes credential attainment and economic mobility. Students can provide important insights into gaps and barriers created by existing public policies and how policymakers can…

This paper looks empirically at how the UK's policy of securitisation within education impacts on the meso-level space of cultural ethos and pedagogy within two majority non-white secondary schools and one majority non-white further education college. It does so primarily by documenting how British Values and Prevent policies enabled through the…

In response to disparities in postsecondary access, governments have enacted policies to facilitate the admission of traditionally underrepresented students. Known as affirmative action in the United States, the legal justification of this approach has varied. This article describes the legal and political history of affirmative action, the social…

The threat of a pandemic places P-20 educational leaders in the difficult position of having to make decisions with incomplete information that affect the welfare of students, employees, and the community. Due to extraneous factors, pandemics are almost impossible to plan for in detail. In an effort to illustrate the unique position P-20…

Young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) continue to struggle with community engagement despite decades of research and policy initiatives addressing postsecondary transition. Evidence shows that persons with IDD are engaging in employment, postsecondary education, independent living, socialization, and other roles at…

This study was the first to examine the impact of immigrant-focused public policy on the educational outcomes of Latinx students in professional nursing. Between 2001-2020, 34 states adopted policies that either provided or prohibited in-state resident tuition (ISRT) and/or state financial aid (SFA) to undocumented students. Deferred Action for…

While the scope of a transition toward renewable energy, and away from fossil fuels, as well as other sustainable economic practices is daunting, the United States has recently begun to obtain policy momentum in the push to decouple economic activity from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A suite of recent federal laws, as well as state and local…

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the external quality assurance (EQA) strategies of Technological Institutes (TIs) in Mexico, between 2010 and 2020. For this purpose, this study tracks sectoral reforms and institutional adaptation processes toward fulfilling accreditation indicators. This study considers accreditation as an emergent strategy…

The historical literature about postsecondary education in British Columbia, as in many jurisdictions, is fragmented. Scholarly works have tended to recount the development of a single institution or a single sector: colleges and universities, vocational colleges, apprenticeship, or continuing education. And not all sectors, whether comprised of…

This paper examines the implementation of the "Prevent Duty" to actively promote fundamental British values in English Further Education (FE). After critically reviewing the history of "Prevent" and the 2015 "Duty" to identify evidence of radicalisation in FE, data from interviews of strategic decision-makers in two…