By Lucy Phillips
19 May 2010
Young people from poor backgrounds are still failing to get places at top universities despite millions of pounds spent on efforts to widen participation, according to a report out today.
The Office for Fair Access found that while many more people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been in higher education as a whole since the mid-1990s, there had been no increase in the proportion attending the top third of universities.
The most advantaged 20% of young people are now around seven times more likely than the most disadvantaged 40% to attend selective institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge.
Report author and director of fair access Sir Martin Harris said it was ‘both socially unacceptable and economically wasteful’ that so few people from poor backgrounds went to the best universities.
But he said the situation would be much worse if universities had not been making attempts to address the problem. He called on the top institutions to re-examine their outreach activities, for which they are given additional government funding, to ensure they were targeted at the most able and disadvantaged students.
The new universities and science minister David Willetts said the report was ‘very valuable’ and that the government was committed to improving wider participation.
Universities UK, which represents university vice chancellors, said bright students from poor backgrounds were often not given the support or encouragement to go on to higher education. ‘Universities make strenuous efforts to seek out potential by looking at a number of factors when selecting students, but, as we have said before, they cannot admit people who are not applying,’ said UUK president professor Steve Smith.
Harris also warned that efforts to widen university access could be compromised if student tuition fees were raised and top universities did not take appropriate action to support poorer young people. He urged Lord Browne to consider this in his review of higher education funding and student finance. ‘The goal of fair access is too important for the opportunity to be missed at this crucial time,’ said Harris.
Browne’s review, commissioned by the former Labour government with support from the Conservatives but not the Liberal Democrats, is due to be published in the autumn.
The Universities and Colleges Union, which welcomed the Offa report, also warned against increasing student fees. ‘The bottom line is that if you introduce higher prices for degrees you will have a situation where the richest students pick whatever course they like – with the rest left to fight it out for anything within budget or be put off completely,’ said general secretary Sally Hunt.
There will be a below-inflation rise of 1.25% next year for widening participation initiatives, despite £950m of government cuts to university funding. This will take the total funding to support students from under-represented groups to £144m.
19 May 2010
Young people from poor backgrounds are still failing to get places at top universities despite millions of pounds spent on efforts to widen participation, according to a report out today.
The Office for Fair Access found that while many more people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been in higher education as a whole since the mid-1990s, there had been no increase in the proportion attending the top third of universities.
The most advantaged 20% of young people are now around seven times more likely than the most disadvantaged 40% to attend selective institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge.
Report author and director of fair access Sir Martin Harris said it was ‘both socially unacceptable and economically wasteful’ that so few people from poor backgrounds went to the best universities.
But he said the situation would be much worse if universities had not been making attempts to address the problem. He called on the top institutions to re-examine their outreach activities, for which they are given additional government funding, to ensure they were targeted at the most able and disadvantaged students.
The new universities and science minister David Willetts said the report was ‘very valuable’ and that the government was committed to improving wider participation.
Universities UK, which represents university vice chancellors, said bright students from poor backgrounds were often not given the support or encouragement to go on to higher education. ‘Universities make strenuous efforts to seek out potential by looking at a number of factors when selecting students, but, as we have said before, they cannot admit people who are not applying,’ said UUK president professor Steve Smith.
Harris also warned that efforts to widen university access could be compromised if student tuition fees were raised and top universities did not take appropriate action to support poorer young people. He urged Lord Browne to consider this in his review of higher education funding and student finance. ‘The goal of fair access is too important for the opportunity to be missed at this crucial time,’ said Harris.
Browne’s review, commissioned by the former Labour government with support from the Conservatives but not the Liberal Democrats, is due to be published in the autumn.
The Universities and Colleges Union, which welcomed the Offa report, also warned against increasing student fees. ‘The bottom line is that if you introduce higher prices for degrees you will have a situation where the richest students pick whatever course they like – with the rest left to fight it out for anything within budget or be put off completely,’ said general secretary Sally Hunt.
There will be a below-inflation rise of 1.25% next year for widening participation initiatives, despite £950m of government cuts to university funding. This will take the total funding to support students from under-represented groups to £144m.
