Widening participation (WP) in Higher Education (HE) is often positioned as key to resolving social inequality; it underpins arguments that increasing levels of education lead to reduced levels of poverty. Located within the tension of duty and need, WP is positioned as both the responsibility of the University and a financial imperative. This paper considers the student experience of this tension, specifically the contradictions between discourses of equality and diversity and neoliberal conceptualisations of HE as market. Drawing upon qualitative research conducted during the closure of a WP satellite campus, the paper explores the consequences of the withdrawal of HE provision for ‘local’ students. Utilising focus group methodologies to develop an approach for ‘thinking with’ seven WP students, the paper explores the material, social and affective contexts within which students experience university in their ‘hometown’. Foregrounding participants’ critical understanding of their ‘place’ within a marketised HE sector, we consider the formation of student identity as a site of struggles for value. We argue, the closure of satellite campuses must be understood within the context of deepening social-spatial inequalities. Developing a critique of individualised constructions of ‘social mobility’, we outline an alternative imaginary of HE as an intergenerational community resource.

扩大参与高等教育的机会通常被认为是解决社会不平等的关键。它支持这样的论点，即教育水平的提高导致贫困程度的降低。WP处于职责和需求的紧张之中，既是大学的责任，又是财务上的重任。本文考虑了这种紧张局势的学生经历，特别是平等和多样性话语与HE作为市场的新自由主义概念化之间的矛盾。利用在WP卫星校园关闭期间进行的定性研究，本文探讨了撤销“本地”学生的HE规定的后果。利用焦点小组方法来开发一种与7名WP学生一起“思考”的方法，本文探索了这些材料，学生在“故乡”体验大学的社交和情感情境。鉴于参与者对他们在市场化的高等教育领域中的“地位”的批判性理解，我们认为学生身份的形成是为争取价值而奋斗的场所。我们认为，必须在社会空间不平等加剧的背景下理解卫星校园的关闭。在对“社会流动性”的个体化建构进行批判的过程中，我们概述了将高等教育作为一种代际社区资源的另一种想象。必须在社会空间不平等加剧的背景下了解关闭卫星校园的情况。在对“社会流动性”的个体化建构进行批判的过程中，我们概述了将高等教育作为一种代际社区资源的另一种想象。必须在社会空间不平等加剧的背景下了解关闭卫星校园的情况。在对“社会流动性”的个体化建构进行批判的过程中，我们概述了将高等教育作为一种代际社区资源的另一种想象。