Author Identifier
Colleen Carlon: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-0009
Kylie Wrigley: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4589-0866
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Higher Education Research and Development
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
82086
Funders
Spencer Foundation (10028994) / Edith Cowan University
Abstract
Just as Cinderella’s prospects for attending the ball seemed elusive, so does higher education for people living in rural, remote and regional locations in Australia. The concentration of university campuses in Australian capital cities systematically diminishes opportunities for people living in regional locations. Indeed, most regional communities in Australia do not have access to a local university campus. This article presents research that captures the voices and experiences of students studying on three small regional university campuses through semi-structured interviews. Acknowledging their intersectional diversity linked to gender, ethnicity, caring and cultural responsibilities, disability, and socio-economic status, a thematic analysis of the students’ responses revealed four key themes. These themes illuminate the inequities faced by regional tertiary students using a strengths discourse that recognises the aspirational and experiential capital that informs what it takes to combat such adversity to succeed in higher education. This research contributes vital knowledge that recognises the cultural capital of regionally based higher education students, their commitment to place and contribution to place-based knowledge and learning.
DOI
10.1080/07294360.2025.2493249
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Carlon, C., Aberdeen, L., Eversole, R., Schmidt, M., Congues, J., & Wrigley, K. (2025). Cinderella on the path at midnight: Students on regional university campuses and equity. Higher Education Research & Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2493249