News
Scotland
May 17, 2022: The Scottish Funding Council published its Report on Widening Access 2020-21. This showed that 16.7 per cent of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degrees students were from SIMD20 (the 20 percent most deprived) areas. The report highlights the contribution of colleges, with 40.9 percent of full-time first degree SIMD20 entrants coming via the college route. Among all full-time entrants to higher education in colleges and universities the SIMD20 share was 21.1 percent. In the case of colleges the share of SIMD20 entrants to higher education courses was even higher - 25.3 percent.
February 22, 2022: The Scottish Government published Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations. This showed that, although the higher education participation gap between SIMD20 (the most deprived) and SIMD80 (the least deprived) entrants widened between 2018-19 and 2020-21, over the past decade the proportion of SIMD20 leavers going on to higher education increased by more than half - from 18.6 per cent to 29.2 per cent, while the proportion of SIMD80 leavers grew at a slower rate from 57.5 per cent to 65.1 per cent. Overall the proportion of school leavers going on to higher education increased by a fifth - form 36.3 per cent to 45.1 per cent.
January 25, 2022: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) published a Statistical Bulletin on higher education students in 2020-21. This showed continuing progress towards meeting the Government’s targets for fair access. The percentage of full-time degree entrants from the 20-per-cent most deprived communities in Scotland (SIMD20) increased from 16.4 per cent in 2019-20 to 16.7 per cent in 2020-21, which means 545 more SIMD20 students were enrolled in universities.
December 14, 2021: The Scottish Government published an overview of the current evidence on the Young Person’s Guarantee: the employment and education landscape.
October 26, 2021: The Scottish Government published its response to the Scottish Funding Council’s review of tertiary education and research published on June 29, 2021. The Government welcomed the report and its seven key recommendations. The SFC review had been a lengthy process with both interim and progress reports as well as a final report.
June 30, 2021: The Scottish Funding Council published its annual report on widening access for 2019-20.
August 11, 2020: Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland published the final report of the National Articulation Forum.
July 25, 2019: Scotland’s higher education institutions all that all care-experienced applicants who meet minimum entry requirements should be guaranteed a place
February 14, 2019: Universities Scotland announces that all higher education institutions will set, and publicise, minimum entry requirements for applicants from SIMD20 postcodes.
May 10, 2018: The Scottish Government published the final report of the 15-24 Learner Journey Review. The review covered all forms of education and training, including on-the-job training, opportunities for young people. The report recommended greater personalisation of information, guidance and support; greater choice of provision; better alignment of system purpose; stronger leadership in terms of vision; and greater emphasis on the performance of the system
November 2017: Universities Scotland published its Working to Widen Access, its report of the three work-streams established on admissions, bridging programmes and articulation following the report of the Commission on Widening Access.
October 31, 2017: The Scottish Funding Council published a report written by Vikki Boliver of Durham University that maps and evaluates the uses of contextual admissions in Scottish universities.
Rest of the UK
February 25, 2022: The Alliance of Working-Class Academics, an international group, has recently published a code on equal opportunity for academics and students from working-class backgrounds, defined broadly to cover most forms of disadvantage. Although the primary focus is on academics, it also applies to postgraduates who aspire to enter the academic profession.
February 24, 2002: The UK Government has published a set of proposals in a long-delayed response to the the recommendations made by the Augar committee established by former Prime Minister Theresa May to examine the future of student funding in England. Among the most important from a fair access perspective is the proposal to set minimum eligibility requirements which applicants must meet to receive student loans. The minimum threshold is likely to the set at at least grade 4 GCSEs in English and mathematics. Estimates about how many potential applicants would be excluded vary between 30 per cent and 8 per cent (or 20,000 in 2020). Critics, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its analysis, suggest that this proposal - and others such as those to reduce the repayment threshold and extend the repayment period for student loans in England - will adversely affect applicants from more disadvantaged backgrounds. These MERs are not to be confused with the minimum entry requirements set by Scottish universities.
January 20, 2022: In England the Office for Students has issued a consultation document that marks a radical break with its previous approach to access and participation. Following the guidance of the Secretary of State (see below: November 23, 2021) the OfS is proposing to focus on minimum requirements for student outcomes. Under its proposals English institutions would have to ensure that continuation rates from the first year were at least 80 per cent, 75 per cent successfully completed their courses and 60 were employed in professional (or ‘graduate’) jobs. This follows the refocusing of access and participation away from contextual admissions to raising attainment levels in schools. The former Director for Access and Participation, Chris Millward, has criticised this new approach in a paper for the Centre for Global Higher Education.
November 24, 2021: The Sutton Trust published a research brief on universities and social mobility.
November 23, 2021: Nadhim Zaharwi, Secretary of State for Education in England, sent the Office for Students a new letter of guidance asking the new Director of Fair Access and Participation to refocus widening participation efforts on (a) raising aspirations in schools; and (b) ‘levelling-up’ in terms of value-for-money and success. This marks a break from previous efforts in England which, except for not having national targets, used many of the mechanisms familiar in Scotland such as contextual admissions.
May 1, 2019: The Office for Students in England publishes a Insight Brief on how the use of contextual admissions can promote fairness in university admissions.
October 27, 2017: The Sutton Trust published Admissions on Admissions in Context, a report on the use of contextual admissions by leading universities.