The objectives underpinning the policies to expand and widen participation have impacted on university provision to help students improve their general literacy and academic writing skills. This book examines how and why Students’skills Centres, (SSCs), gained such a hold in the sector, despite the contentious nature of the research evidence that challenges the notion of the applicability of generic writing skills. It is argued in the book, that on a small scale, SSCs illustrate the paradoxes and ironies that have developed in higher education. ‘The Paradox of Skills’ will be of interest to researchers of skills development and widening participation in higher education. It provides an introductory text into the complexity of universities’ roles as they try to address central government’s demands for graduates to have demonstratable ‘employment skills’.