Why Positive Access Policies in Higher Education Can Contribute to Active Citizenship

This article deals with the role of Irish Higher Education (HE) in the context of the promotion of citizenship. It examines the circumstances in which Irish Higher Education currently operates in terms of access and participation with particular reference to the recent OECD Report (2004), Review of Higher Education in Ireland. The article will also highlight the efforts of the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) to promote access to Higher Education and the benefits which accrue to mature students from engaging with such a process in terms of their self-confidence, consciousness-raising and sense of citizenship.