New report finds big access differences between HE institutions for disadvantaged pupils
New research from the Social Market Foundation think tank finds that the government is on course to miss its targets of widening participation in higher education – and has found significant differences between institutions’ intake of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government has ambitious targets for widening participation in higher education by 2020: to double the proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds going into HE and to increase by 20% the numbers of students from BME backgrounds.
The report, Widening Participation, found that there has been some progress towards these targets, but if current trends continue, it won’t be enough to meet them. Continuing the present trend in widening participation will not be sufficient to meet the ambition to double the proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds going into higher education. By 2020, the participation rate would fall 5 percentage points short of what the ambition requires.
Widening Participation found significant differences between institutions, with many taking fewer pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds than 6 years ago and others only showing very small increases.
The research in Widening Participation is supported by the Open University and the University Alliance.
Emran Mian, author of the research and director of the Social Market Foundation, commented:
“Continuing the present trend in widening participation will not been sufficient to meet the ambition to double the proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds going into higher education. By 2020, the participation rate would fall 5 percentage points short of what the ambition requires.
“Improving the performance of those institutions which have made little progress may require institutions themselves to get much more involved in raising prior attainment – for instance, by providing tuition or summer schools. Outreach alone may be insufficient.”
Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, Peter Horrocks, said:
“The government’s ambition to encourage more disadvantaged students into higher education is to be welcomed, however current efforts fail to take into account the vital role part-time and lifelong study has to play in driving social mobility.
“As this report makes clear, if ministers are serious about encouraging these groups of our society into studying at a higher level, they cannot afford to focus their efforts solely on 18 year-olds, as has previously been the case. More than a third of such students entering the English university system last year were mature. These individuals make a huge contribution to our society and economy, and it is in the national interest to make sure this is recognised in any future policy developments.”
Commenting, University Alliance Chief Executive Maddalaine Ansell said:
“In recent years significant progress has been made in recruiting more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to university, as well as increasing retention and levels of attainment. We are proud to be the only group of universities above benchmark on both recruiting students from widening participation backgrounds and ensuring they achieve good outcomes once they arrive.
“But we cannot and must not rest on our laurels, and as this report shows, there is a risk that unless progress accelerates, the Prime Minister’s ambitious targets will be missed. More needs to be done right across the sector to identify potential and talent wherever it exists, so that intakes reflect the whole community. A helpful first step would be for institutions to collaborate in shifting the focus away from just recruitment to genuine outreach.”
Key findings from the report:
- Overall 28.8% more young full-time students from disadvantaged backgrounds entered HE in 2014/15 compared to 2009/10. That’s set against an increase of 9.6% overall.
- But this headline improvement hides large differences between institutions.
- 9 institutions decreased their numbers of disadvantaged students – accounting for a total decrease of 115.
- A further 12 saw no change (statistics round to the nearest 5 students).
- 24 achieved an increase, but of 25 students or fewer.
- Overall, the bottom half of institutions in terms of their performance on widening participation made a net contribution of only 9.9% of the increase across the sector in numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- By contrast:
- 10 institutions managed to increase their intake of students from disadvantaged backgrounds by 150 or more students each – contributing 32% of the total increase in disadvantaged students.
- The best performing 10% contributed 36% of the increase.
- The best performing 20% contributed 57% of the increase.
- The following 9 universities reduced the number of disadvantaged students they took between 2009/10 and 2014/15:
- London Metropolitan University
- University of Lancaster
- University of Bradford
- University of Keele
- University for the Creative Arts
- Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
- Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- Middlesex University
- Royal Agricultural University
- By contrast, the following 10 universities increased their intake of disadvantaged students by 150 or more students each – collectively accounting for 32% of the total net increase:
- University of Central Lancashire
- Sheffield Hallam University
- Edge Hill University
- University of Huddersfield
- University of Chester
- University of Northumbria at Newcastle
- Liverpool John Moores University
- Birmingham City University
- Leeds Beckett University
- Manchester Metropolitan University (largest increase of any institution: 330 more disadvantaged students)
- Looking at who has reduced numbers of disadvantaged students is potentially misleading as a measure of backwards progress in widening participation because some institutions have seen their overall intakes shrink over this period as well.
- Hence we looked at which institutions have reduced the proportion of disadvantaged students within their overall intake.
- On this measure, 13 universities did worse in 2014/15 than 2009/10:
- Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- Norwich University of the Arts
- Royal Agricultural University
- Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
- Writtle College
- London Metropolitan University
- Harper Adams University
- University of Winchester
- Royal College of Music
- City University
- Courtauld Institute of Art
- Ravensbourne
- University of Lancaster
- On the same measure – the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the new intake – a further 15 institutions made very little progress, with an improvement of less than 0.5% over this period:
- University of Durham
- Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
- University of Kent
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- University of Bath
- Falmouth University
- University of Cambridge
- Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
- Royal Academy of Music
- University of Derby
- Roehampton University
- University of Northampton
- Loughborough University
- University of Bristol
- University of York
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
- A copy of Widening Participation is available at http://smf.jynk.net/widening-participation/
- The Social Market Foundation (SMF) is a non-partisan think tank. We believe that fair markets, complemented by open public services, increase prosperity and help people to live well. We conduct research and run events looking at a wide range of economic and social policy areas, focusing on economic prosperity, public services and consumer markets.
- Widening Participation is supported by the Open University and the University Alliance. The SMF retains full editorial independence.
Media enquiries:
- To interview the report author or for further details about the research, please contact Sean O’Brien, SMF communications manager, via sean@smf.co.uk.
