By Richard Johnstone | 21 July 2011
Primary school pupils should be given career advice and encouraged to plan for university, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has recommended.
Hughes’ report into higher education access was published today and made more than 30 recommendations.The LibDem MP was appointed as the government’s advocate for access to education last year. His brief is to increase the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds who attend university, even after the controversial plan to allow universities to charge up to £9,000 in annual fees.
Hughes said that he hoped the report would ‘move the debate’ past the issue of the fees, which will rise from £3,290 in September 2012.
Efforts to increase participation from under-represented groups should start as early as 10 and 11 with careers options, advice and guidance, Hughes said. He also called for every school and college to be formally linked to at least one higher education institution by the end of 2011/12.
The national scholarship programme should also be changed, he said. This was launched in February to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds pay for the cost of attending university when the fees rise.
Currently, the scholarships are to be given to universities for applications next year, but Hughes says they should be offered to every school and college. The government should also be able to reserve some for courses that are linked to specific regional employment.
Hughes said: ‘There has clearly been widespread concern about future participation in higher education before and after Parliament took its decision last December on the financing arrangements for English universities.
‘The message I have heard from young people around the country is clear; we need better careers advice, starting early, and with parents as well as students given better information about going to university. It is crucial that decisions about higher education are made on the basis of costs and benefits and not fees, debts and loans.’
However, the National Union of Students dismissed the report as ‘well-meaning but too little, too late’. It said it welcomed the recommendation on information and advice, but warned it might be hard to enforce.
NUS President Liam Burns said: ‘The lack of clear recommendations on access targets raises serious questions about whether more challenging aims can be enforced. If access advocacy is to have real teeth it must be accompanied by real powers.’
The University and College Union also said there was ‘little point in a report published after key decisions on access had been taken’.
Universities UK said the report was ‘helpful’ in keeping the spotlight on the importance of getting more people into higher education.
President Professor Sir Steve Smith said: ‘We agree with the view that efforts to increase participation in higher education should start as early as possible in schools. This is something Universities UK has argued for some time. Universities cannot admit young people who are not applying to higher education.’
