19 March 2002
Universities UK launches 'Social Class and Participation' Universities UK Release
Universities UK will today launch a wide-ranging report, Social Class and Participation, at a reception in the House of Commons. The report identifies good practice and evaluates the strategies adopted by both the higher education sector and Government to widen participation.
The report looks at where higher education institutions have been successful in increasing participation among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and by drawing on 23 case studies, aims to show how targeted initiatives by individual institutions are contributing to the social inclusion agenda.
Of these case studies, 14 were first highlighted in Universities UK's 1998 report on widening participation, From Elitism to Inclusion. The new report, commissioned from the European Access Network, acknowledges developments in widening participation since 1998, updates the progress of the early studies and includes a further nine new ones. For the first time, some of these concentrate on high demand subject areas such as medicine and the creative arts.
The aim of the report is to provide case studies for use as models for future development, to build on existing successes and to inform future policy considerations on funding wider participation. The report points out potential tension between two goals - the first of widening participation among under represented groups of students and the second of increasing access to reach a 50% target of 18-30 year olds by 2010.
Among its robust conclusions, the report shows that the "redressing of chronic under-representation among certain groups of students is not easy, nor is it rapid or cheap.... there is no quick fix."(1) Commenting on funding issues in particular, it emphasises that more accurate targeting is required, adding that while the "right kind of signal is being sent by the funding bodies, the strength of the signal is yet too weak". (2)
On student support, the report repeatedly notes a "broad swathe of opinion that changes in the system of student support have been regressive and a disincentive to participation."(3)
The recommendations to HEIs include: going beyond the use of postcode data to target potential students as closely as possible; increasing their collaboration with schools; and bringing in systematic monitoring of 'widening participation students' along US models to establish where changes in institutional practice are needed.
The recommendations to Government and funding bodies are equally robust: bring in a combination of means-tested grant and loan with sufficiently steep means-testing to encourage lower-income groups to participate; improve on the use of the postcode data; substantially increase the access premium; and make student support simpler to provide and understand.
Professor Mantz Yorke, final author of the report, (4) said: "The raising of aspirations is an important component of widening participation. But this needs to begin early and encouraging aspirations to higher education costs more than the present resources of higher education institutions themselves. This is a matter not only for higher education, but all the other components of the educational system. "
Diana Warwick, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: "Universities UK is proud of the efforts to widen participation being made in every university and higher education college across the UK. Social Class and Participation is another step forward. It's not a report that is launched today and shelved tomorrow - it contains recommendations and challenges for both sector and Government to consider."
Notes
For further information
- Conclusions, F1.1 - F1.3, p165.
- Conclusions, F2.1, p 166
- Conclusions F2.3, p167
- Professor Mantz Yorke, of Liverpool John Moores University, completed the report following the untimely death of Maggie Woodrow, the report's original writer, in 2001.
- Hard copies of the 195-page report will be available at the launch at the House of Commons from 4pm on Tuesday 19 March. From 4pm 19.03.02 pdf files of both the 1998 report From Elitism to Inclusion and the new report, Social Class and Participation, can be found by going to www.universitiesuk.ac.uk.
Fiona MacLeod
Tel +44 (0)20 7419 5410