Much progress and much to-do: reflections on the Report on Widening Access 2021-22
On the 25th of July, the Scottish Funding Council published its latest (and seventh) Report on Widening Access (to higher education) in Scotland (RoWA), updating earlier editions with the latest data from 2021-22. This was the first RoWA after the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills had re-affirmed Scotland’s commitment to widening access, specifically committing to meet the “interim target of 18% (by 2026) of full-time first degree entrants to universities coming from the most deprived communities in Scotland” as part of the “fresh start for the Scottish Government under new leadership”.
On the day of publication, evidence, and analysis of RoWA was reported by some media outlets in Scotland and beyond, including the Scotsman, The Herald, STV News, TES, and The Morning Star, with the Scotsman also publishing a viewpoint from Dr. Kirsty Conlon of Universities Scotland.
There is much to celebrate in these latest RoWA data, notably:
More Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants were from one of Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas in every one of Scotland’s tT[1] HEIs in 2021-22, compared to 2013-14.
For the last five years, there has been year-on-year increase in the total number of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants to Scottish HEIs from one of Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas.
The interim target - by 2021, Scottish domiciled students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent, at least, 16% of full-time first-degree entrants to Scottish universities as a whole – has been exceeded.
A tertiary perspective on widening access indicates that equality of access is being achieved for some metrics: 20.3% of Scottish domiciled students engaged in full-time undergraduate HE in Scotland’s HEIs and FEIs (colleges) are from one of the 20% Most Deprived Areas.
However, there is also challenging evidence and evidence that challenges our understanding of widening access, notably:
Increasing the number of places for Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs does not guarantee that the share of entrants from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas will increase – the number of places increased, but the share decreased between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Concerns that a widening access focus on increasing the share of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas could reduce the share of those from areas only marginally less deprived (SIMD20-40) are, as yet, unfounded. The share of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs from SIMD20-40 areas is higher in 2021-22, compared to 2013-14, and has increased in each of the last two years.
Retention rates. Although a higher proportion of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas returned to study in year 2 in 2021-22, compared to 2013-14, the increase is less than one percentage point, it remains the case that more than one-in-ten do not progress beyond year 1, and the retention rate has fallen in one-half of Scottish HEIs over this period.
Progressive interventions can generate positive outcomes in challenging times. In contrast to the share of for Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas (which fell between 2020-21 and 2021-22), the share of care-experienced students has increased in each of the last two years. A key driver underpinning this progressive trend for care-experienced students has been the laudable move by all universities in Scotland to introduce a guarantee regarding admissions to all care experienced students who meet minimum entry requirements.
I make one final additional observation for now. The Scottish Funding Council accurately observed that “all bar three universities have met the … interim target at institution level” (paragraph 26). This provided the headline for coverage in The Herald: “Three Scottish universities fail to meet working class student target.” Although not inaccurate, this is unhelpful. In each of these so-called failing institutions, the number of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants at Scottish HEIs from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas increased between 2013-14 and 2021-22, while for one (University of Aberdeen) the proportion of its students entrants from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas also increased over this period, and for another (Robert Gordon’s University) the share of its student entrants from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas has increased in each of the last two years. The other (Scotland’s Rural College) has a small full-time first-degree cohort and hence is more exposed to annual fluctuations: notably, it exceeded the COWA target from 2017-18 to 2020-21.
I look forward to reflecting at greater length on this evidence, and sharing my thoughts on what is required to meet the interim target for 2026, as part of my first annual report, to be published later in the year.
[1] The Open University in Scotland is not measured against this target, which considers full-time study only.