Many contemporary concerns in higher education focus on the student experience of learning. With a larger and much more diverse intake than ever before linked with a declining unit of resource questions are being asked afresh around the purposes of higher education. Although much of the debate is currently focused on issues of student access and success a simple input-output model of higher education is insufficient. This book turns this conversation on its head by inserting a full consideration of student agency into the context of higher education. Working sociologically it explores the influence of the social context on what the individual student achieves. The theoretical tenets of a social realist approach are laid out in detail in the book; the potential value of this approach is then illustrated by a case study of student learning in engineering education. Employing Margaret Archerâs social realist theory an analysis of student narratives is used to work towards a realist understanding of the underlying mechanisms that constrain and enable student success. Building on this analysis the book develops a novel set of proposals for potential ways forward in improving student learning in higher education. . Language: English