Counting Students or Changing Systems? Reframing Equity Through Marginalisation and Systems Theory

Abstract

Equity in higher education is commonly framed through administratively defined groups and outcome metrics, obscuring the institutional processes that reproduce exclusion and deficit narratives. This paper aims to reframe equity by foregrounding marginalisation as a context‑dependent process and applying systems theory to illuminate how organisational structures and interdependencies generate patterned inequalities. The study synthesises marginalisation scholarship with systems‑thinking frameworks to develop a conceptual model to provide theoretical and pragmatic interventions for understanding and addressing exclusion in higher education. Findings show that group‑based equity frameworks privilege measurement over mechanism, while a marginalisation lens exposes institutional practices and system dynamics that structure student experiences. A systems‑oriented marginalisation framework offers greater explanatory power and clearer leverage points for structural change, shifting responsibility from ‘fixing students’ to redesigning institutional systems to reduce exclusion. Leverage points are identified to enact institutional change.