Personal life, young women and higher education : a relational approach to student and graduate experiences

Finn, Kirsty (2015) Personal life, young women and higher education : a relational approach to student and graduate experiences. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978137319722

Abstract

Over the past decade the number of students entering higher education has risen dramatically and the 'university experience' has become an increasing influence in the lives of young people. Personal Life, Young Women and Higher Education: A Relational Approach to Student and Graduate Experiences provides an innovative and holistic view of young women's personal relationships and intimate connections during the transition in and through higher education in the UK during the first quarter of the 21st Century. It draws on rich, descriptive accounts of choice and change generated through a seven-year qualitative longitudinal study, to explore the emotional and moral significance of relationships with family, friends, romantic and sexual partners, housemates and peers for experiences of transition. Walking alongside a group of young women as they enter and later exit university, the book offers unique insights into the ways in which the massification of UK higher education takes shape in the unfolding of time for this group of students and graduates. The book develops a relational perspective which brings personal relationship and networks of intimacy into the foreground of analysis. In doing so, the discussion challenges the false distinction between public and private concerns to reveal the many and varied ways that higher education and personal life are intertwined for young women in the UK.