An inter/national strategy for developing more equitable policies and practices in higher education

It is our pleasure to introduce the papers included in this Special Issue of International Studies in Widening Participation, which are about issues in widening participation (WP) and access initiatives across Australia. The papers were developed by participants of an international writing program, which developed out of ongoing conversations between Professor Jacqueline Stevenson, Sheffield Hallam University, Ms. Rae Tooth, Office for Fair Access (OFFA), now the Office for Students (OfS) and Professor Penny Jane Burke, the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle, Australia, a collaborative seminar series and a previous successful institutional program, ‘Write a Paper in a Year’, run by Professor Carol Taylor and Professor Jacqueline Stevenson at Sheffield Hallam University. The Australian strand of the program was facilitated through CEEHE, directed by Professor Penny Jane Burke, convened by Dr. Anna Bennett and supported by Ms. Belinda Munn. In the UK, Professor Jacqueline Stevenson facilitated the program in partnership with Ms. Rae Tooth. The international program aims to support the development of communities of researchers, practitioners, educators and professionals to provide rigorous understandings and recognitive opportunities, resources and representations in working for equity in higher education (Burke, et al., 2017; Fraser, 1997). Such an approach enables people to develop their research and writing for publication, and for established researchers to widen their understanding of practice. The Australian strand is now supported by the Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA) organisation.