Widening participation in higher education

Transcription

1 Wideig participatio i higher educatio REPORT BY THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL HC 725 Sessio Jue 2008

2 The Natioal Audit Office scrutiises public spedig o behalf of Parliamet. The Comptroller ad Auditor Geeral, Tim Burr, is a Officer of the House of Commos. He is the head of the Natioal Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He ad the Natioal Audit Office are totally idepedet of Govermet. He certifies the accouts of all Govermet departmets ad a wide rage of other public sector bodies; ad he has statutory authority to report to Parliamet o the ecoomy, efficiecy ad effectiveess with which departmets ad other bodies have used their resources. Our work saves the taxpayer millios of pouds every year: at least 9 for every 1 spet ruig the Office.

3 Wideig participatio i higher educatio LONDON: The Statioery Office Ordered by the House of Commos to be prited o 23 Jue 2008 REPORT BY THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL HC 725 Sessio Jue 2008

4 This report has bee prepared uder Sectio 6 of the Natioal Audit Act 1983 for presetatio to the House of Commos i accordace with Sectio 9 of the Act. Tim Burr Comptroller ad Auditor Geeral Natioal Audit Office 20 Jue 2008 The Natioal Audit Office study team cosisted of: Ady Whittigham, Ee-Lig The, Sarah Perryma, Daiel Duffy, Nick Ormisto-Smith, Adetuji Odeeye ad Ria Gill-Williams, uder the directio of David Woodward This report ca be foud o the Natioal Audit Office web site at For further iformatio about the Natioal Audit Office please cotact: Natioal Audit Office Press Office Buckigham Palace Road Victoria Lodo SW1W 9SP Tel: equiries@ao.gsi.gov.uk Natioal Audit Office 2008

5 contents SUMMARY 4 PART ONE Progress i wideig participatio 11 PART TWO Impact of actios by the Departmet, 18 Fudig coucil ad Office for Fair Access to wide participatio PART THREE What higher educatio istitutios are 30 doig to wide participatio PART FOUR Addressig the barriers to wideig 37 participatio APPENDICES 1 Study methodology 41 2 Data o istitutioal performace to ad bursaries DEFINITIONS 57 ENDNOTES 61 Cover, cotets, page 4, page 11, page 18 ad page 37 photographs courtesy of Uiversity of Greewich. Page 30 photograph courtesy of Uiversity of Worcester.

6 SummARy 1 This report examies the progress made by the Departmet for Iovatio, Uiversities ad Skills (the Departmet), the Higher Educatio Fudig Coucil for Eglad (the Fudig Coucil), the Office for Fair Access ad higher educatio istitutios i Eglad i wideig participatio i higher educatio. The Govermet s 2003 White Paper, The Future of Higher Educatio icluded a commitmet to wide participatio i higher educatio, by helpig more people from uder-represeted groups, particularly lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds, to participate successfully i higher educatio. This commitmet sits alogside a policy to icrease participatio of those aged 18 to 30 towards 50 per cet by Figure 1 presets a overview of the orgaisatios that play a role i wideig participatio. The Fudig Coucil has give istitutios deliverig higher educatio 392 millio i recurret fudig betwee ad for wideig participatio. Figure 2 o page 6 shows the rage of sources ad amouts of fudig for wideig participatio for We assessed progress agaist the followig criteria: whether participatio of uder-represeted groups i higher educatio is icreasig (Part 1); whether iitiatives take by the Departmet, the Fudig Coucil, the Office for Fair Access ad higher educatio istitutios to wide participatio are effective (Parts 2 ad 3); ad whether higher educatio provisio is delivered i a way that addresses the barriers to wideig participatio (Part 4). 4 WIDENING PARTIcIPATION IN HIGHER EDucATION

7 summary 1 A rage of orgaisatios play a role i wideig participatio Departmet for Iovatio, Uiversities ad Skills Resposible for policy o higher educatio i Eglad, fudig research ad moitorig progress agaist the targets Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families Resposible for policy o schools i Eglad, raisig stadards so that more childre ad youg people reach expected levels, ad re-egagig disaffected youg people Office for Fair Access Regulates fair access to higher educatio for uder-represeted groups followig itroductio of variable tuitio fees by esurig the sector provides bursaries ad outreach to low icome families Studet Loas Compay admiisters govermetfuded loas ad grats to studets ad admiisters bursaries o behalf of some higher educatio istitutios Higher Educatio Fudig Coucil for Eglad Distributes govermet fuds for higher educatio by directly fudig uiversities ad further educatio colleges that provide higher educatio Learig ad Skills Coucil Distributes fudig to further educatio colleges icludig for the provisio of access courses Local Authorities Distribute fudig to schools, colleges ad other services for youg people ad learers Regulates uiversities via commitmets ad progress towards milestoes i access agreemets Admiisters bursaries (for two-thirds of higher educatio istitutios) ad pays studet loas Fuds higher educatio 95 millio to meet the costs of wideig access i uiversities Fuds research ad good practice Actio o Access Natioal coordiatio team for wideig participatio. Provides advice ad spreads good practice Fuds Aimhigher Outreach programme aimed at raisig aspiratios, awareess ad attaimet of disadvataged youg people Higher Educatio Istitutios Idepedet orgaisatios with icome from govermet (via the Fudig Coucil) ad other sources such as research, edowmet ad ivestmet icome. Further Educatio Colleges offerig higher educatio courses Aimhigher parterships Careers advice ad guidace Schools ad colleges Source: Natioal Audit Office collatio of fudig data ad literature. 3 To assess progress i icreasig participatio of uder-represeted groups we udertook a detailed aalysis of data held by the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy. To determie the effectiveess of the wideig participatio iitiatives ad explore what barriers remai to participatio, we carried out surveys of 2,900 usuccessful applicats for higher educatio places ad of 1,000 teachers i primary ad secodary schools, visited seve istitutios ad met with represetatives of key orgaisatios. 4 This report focuses o what higher educatio istitutios ca do through outreach ad other wideig participatio activities to raise the aspiratios ad attaimet of people. It does ot examie i detail other factors that ifluece propesity to eter higher educatio, particularly prior attaimet, which have bee covered i our earlier reports o Improvig poorly performig schools i Eglad (Jauary 2006) 1 ad The Academies Programme (February 2007) 2. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 5

8 summary fudig for wideig participatio comes from a rage of sources The Fudig Coucil Allocate fuds to uiversities ad other orgaisatios 240 millio to meet the additioal costs of improvig retetio 184 millio based o umber of fulltime studets i risk categories associated with etry qualificatios ad age. 56 millio based o umbers of part-time studets 92 millio to meet the additioal costs of wideig participatio Based o istitutios recruitmet of studets from areas with low rates of participatio i higher educatio or the average educatioal achievemets of their home areas 13 millio to meet the additioal costs of disabled studets Based o umbers of studets i receipt of Disabled Studets Allowace to reflect additioal costs i recruitig ad retaiig studets with disabilities 1 millio to fud research, evaluatio ad idetificatio ad spreadig of good practice Used to iform ad support policy developmet ad fud bodies such as Actio o Access ad the Higher Educatio Academy Higher Educatio Istitutios Idepedet orgaisatios with icome from govermet ad other sources such as research, edowmet ad ivestmet icome. The wideig participatio allocatio portio accouted for up to 9 per cet of each istitutio s teachig grat 21 millio to Lifelog Learig Networks to improve progressio Uiversities may receive fudig 21 millio for outreach 456 millio additioal icome from tuitio fees Studets 95 millio o bursaries for maiteace 87 millio (icludig fudig direct from the Departmet) to Aimhigher parterships to raise aspiratios Uiversities receive fudig for outreach activities Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of fudig data What we foud Progress i wideig participatio 5 Over the past five years there have bee improvemets i the participatio of some groups i higher educatio, but ot for all groups ad some remai sigificatly uder-represeted i higher educatio. The participatio rate for me is curretly 10 percetage poits below that for wome. Those from o-white ethic groups are better represeted tha white people. Socioecoomic backgroud remais a strog determiat of higher educatio participatio with the participatio of youg, full-time studets from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds havig improved by two percetage poits over the past four years. People from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds make up aroud oe half of the populatio of Eglad, but represet just 29 per cet of youg, fulltime, first-time etrats to higher educatio. Youg people livig i deprived areas have experieced a icrease i participatio of 4.5 percetage poits sice 1998 compared with a icrease of 1.8 percetage poits i the least deprived areas. White people from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds, both me ad wome, are the most uderrepreseted group. There are other groups for whom it is difficult to assess participatio because of icomplete data. 6 The attaimet of qualificatios by studets at secodary school or college plays a critical role i gaiig access to higher educatio. Low achievemet by some pupils i secodary schools is the pricipal reaso for the differece betwee rates of participatio i higher educatio for differet groups. Notably, all applicats with the ecessary qualificatios are equally likely to accept a higher educatio place as others with the same level of attaimet, regardless of their family backgroud. 6 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

9 summary 7 Performace idicators show that there is variatio across higher educatio istitutios i recruitig studets from uder-represeted groups. For example i , aroud oe fifth of istitutios performed sigificatly better tha expected i recruitig youg people from areas with low participatio, whilst a similar proportio performed sigificatly worse tha expected. The Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy publishes performace idicators aually o the compositio of studets i idividual istitutios for three uder-represeted groups: idividuals from state schools, from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds ad from areas with low participatio i higher educatio. Each istitutio has idividual bechmarks represetig the expected participatio for each group, give particular characteristics (such as subject of study, age ad etry qualificatios) of the studets it recruits. Post-1992 istitutios geerally perform at or sigificatly above their bechmarks while the Eglish Russell Group istitutios (16 of the most research itesive istitutios) geerally perform at or sigificatly below their bechmarks. However, the majority of istitutios recogise wideig participatio objectives i their high-level strategies. We foud strog seior maagemet support for wideig participatio, with resposibility usually vested i a pro-vice Chacellor supported by specialist staff. 8 Icomplete data o studet characteristics hiders accurate assessmet of participatio. Sigificat gaps i the data provided by studets to istitutios ad programmes reduce the reliace that ca be placed o some measures of participatio, particularly i relatio to socio-ecoomic backgroud ad for part-time studets. The Departmet has developed a ew measure of participatio of youg people by social class ad is ow likig pupil data with higher educatio studet records ad admissios data. Both will assist i trackig idividuals through wideig participatio activities ad ito higher educatio. The Fudig Coucil is providig more comprehesive data o local participatio rates of youg people ad we foud this has bee well received by istitutios. I geeral, the log-term ature of wideig participatio activities makes evaluatig their effectiveess difficult. Impact of the actios of the Departmet, Fudig Coucil ad Office for Fair Access to wide participatio 9 The Fudig Coucil cotributes to meetig the costs of recruitig studets from uder-represeted groups. It allocates recurret fudig for wideig participatio to istitutios i proportio to the umber of existig studets from uder-represeted groups, cotributig to the additioal costs icurred, ad gave 392 millio to istitutios betwee ad The Fudig Coucil has a broad estimate of the additioal costs of recruitig ad retaiig studets from uder-represeted groups ad takes this ito accout i distributig its grat to istitutios, but geerally does ot directly fud wideig participatio activities i istitutios. 10 Sice 2006 the Office for Fair Access has approved a access agreemet for each istitutio wishig to charge variable tuitio fees, settig out what actios the istitutio will take to promote ad safeguard access for low icome groups. The agreemets iclude milestoes. If there is a serious ad wilful breach of a access agreemet, the Office for Fair Access ca impose fiacial sactios. This may iclude refusig to reew a istitutio s access agreemet, thus deyig it permissio to charge tuitio fees above the basic level, or istructig the Fudig Coucil to susped part of a istitutio s grat. Access agreemets have oly bee i place for two years ad the Office for Fair Access has ot idetified ay breaches of access agreemets to date. 11 There is isufficiet iformatio about istitutios activities to wide participatio. The Fudig Coucil o loger requires istitutios to report o their wideig participatio strategies. I the iterests of reducig bureaucracy, the access agreemets approved by the Office for Fair Access have superseded the requiremet to report directly to the Fudig Coucil. The Departmet, the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access are cosiderig how istitutios might brig together their wideig participatio, fair access ad admissios policies ito a sigle strategic documet which would be made public. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 7

10 summary 12 The Fudig Coucil is assessig the effectiveess of the two atioal programmes with wideig participatio aims, ad our surveys suggest that both programmes are well received by participats, schools ad istitutios. The Departmet ad the Fudig Coucil fud the Aimhigher programmes of outreach activities broadly aimed at icreasig youg people s aspiratios to study i higher educatio. The Fudig Coucil has recetly itroduced measures to improve evaluatio ad all Aimhigher parterships are required to submit a evaluatio pla for The Fudig Coucil also fuds the Lifelog Learig Networks which were set up from 2004 to improve progressio for vocatioal learers. It is too early to determie if they are meetig their objectives but iterim evaluatios ad our review idicate progress is beig made. The Fudig Coucil plas a full evaluatio i or There are geographical areas with little or o local provisio of higher educatio, whereas icreasig umbers of studets wat to study locally or live at home whilst attedig higher educatio. There has bee some progress i icreasig provisio i such areas, for example through satellite campuses or joit workig with further educatio colleges. Betwee 2003 ad 2007, the Fudig Coucil provided a total of 130 millio towards 32 capital projects providig places for a additioal 9,000 studets. The Fudig Coucil has respoded positively to local demad ad has recetly begu to map provisio across Eglad. The Departmet has aouced a ew policy, the ew uiversity challege recogisig that more eeds to be doe to expad local ad regioal higher educatio. What higher educatio istitutios are doig to wide participatio 14 Istitutios received a total of 456 millio i additioal tuitio fee icome from studets i but the proportio that idividual istitutios redistributed as bursaries varied cosiderably, ragig from three per cet to 48 per cet. Bursaries are fiacial assistace provided to studets by istitutios. Additioally, 103 out of 123 istitutios chose to use part of their tuitio fee icome to support additioal outreach activities i schools or commuities, with the aim of ecouragig participats to cosider higher educatio. These activities cost a average of 200,000 per istitutio ad amouted to 21 millio i total. There is o requiremet for istitutios to use tuitio fee icome to fud outreach activities ad the Office for Fair Access regards such use as a idicatio of istitutios commitmet to wideig participatio. 15 Istitutios over-estimated the amout of their tuitio fee icome they would eed to cover their studet bursary commitmets. I , the first year of the ew tuitio fee ad studet fiacial support regime, studets claimed bursaries totallig 96 millio, 19 millio less tha the 115 millio predicted by istitutios. Istitutios made their predictios cautiously, based o estimates of demad. Limited data o the fiacial backgroud of studets also made forecastig difficult. 16 As may as 12,000 studets eterig higher educatio i o full state support did ot apply for a bursary although may were likely to have met the ecessary criteria. The Office for Fair Access believes studets either were ot aware of bursaries or did ot fully uderstad if they were eligible. Iformatio o fiacial assistace is available from a rage of diverse sources: idividual istitutios are resposible for marketig bursaries ad various orgaisatios are ivolved i publicisig loas ad grats. From the Studet Loas Compay will take over resposibility for admiisterig all studet fiacial iformatio ad plas to itroduce a itegrated o-lie calculator to eable studets to determie their eligibility for fiacial support. 17 Istitutios are workig with schools to improve pupil progressio. The Govermet recogises the importace of higher educatio istitutios workig with schools. I 2007 the Fudig Coucil issued guidace o how istitutios ad programmes ca target activities at low participatio areas ad people from lower socioecoomic backgrouds. 18 People from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds ad older applicats who are ot i school or college are less likely to have access to advice ad assistace whe applyig to higher educatio. Higher educatio istitutios have recetly moved the deadlie for applicatios back by a moth, allowig teachig staff more time to advise ad produce refereces for studets that they may have taught for a relatively short period. This developmet i the admissios process is of particular beefit to applicats from uder-represeted groups who atted further educatio ad sixth-form colleges. 19 A rage of ew qualificatios, modes of delivery ad etry support are eablig studets from uderrepreseted groups to achieve success i higher educatio. Some istitutios are makig use of ew practices i learig ad teachig, such as foudatio degrees ad part-time provisio, to diversify the way higher educatio is delivered ad wide opportuity. Istitutios are workig with further educatio colleges to offer a greater rage of higher educatio opportuities. 8 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

11 summary Addressig the barriers to wideig participatio 20 Iformatio, advice ad guidace o career optios ad pathways through educatio are of variable quality ad lack oe-to-oe egagemet. Poor advice ad guidace ca lead to idividuals makig poor choices of qualificatios to study at school ad college, makig urealistic applicatios to higher educatio or ot applyig at all. Youg people ad their parets eed access to people with good kowledge of all the optios from age 14. I 2007, the Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families published ew quality stadards for youg people s iformatio, advice ad guidace. 21 Family expectatio or traditio of higher educatio ivolvemet is particularly sigificat i ecouragig youg people to udertake higher educatio. Some families have iaccurate perceptios of higher educatio ad its beefits ad may ot support youg people s aspiratios to higher educatio. We foud some examples of istitutios workig with commuities, parets ad childre of primary school age to address attitudes towards higher educatio. 22 The relatioship betwee the higher educatio fiacial system ad the umber of applicatios is a complex oe, but the itroductio of variable tuitio fees ad more geerous fiacial support for studets does ot appear to have reduced the umber of applicatios to higher educatio. There is o early evidece of a correlatio betwee the level of a istitutio s bursaries ad applicatios. There has bee little research o the impact of tuitio fees o those who may have cosidered but ot applied to higher educatio ad some studets cotiue to have a poor uderstadig of the fiacial support available. 23 Wideig participatio activities are embedded i some programmes aimed at older learers, such as Lifelog Learig Networks ad employer egagemet programmes. The Departmet estimates that there are about five millio adults of workig age who have a level three qualificatio but o experiece of higher educatio, some of whom may beefit from wideig participatio activities. Part-time studets i higher educatio (who are more likely to be mature) have access to more limited studet support, must pay their tuitio fees upfrot ad are ofte ot eligible for bursaries. Coclusio o Value for Moey The Departmet s ad the Fudig Coucil s expediture o wideig participatio caot be directly related to chages i participatio rates as there are other factors affectig participatio, i particular the prior attaimet of studets. Existig aalyses suggest that there has bee some improvemet i participatio of some uder-represeted groups, but progress has ot bee uiform across the sector. Limited, ofte qualitative evaluatios suggest specific activities are effective at wideig participatio. There is scope for improvig the achievemet of value for moey through directig activities towards those idividuals who would beefit the most ad buildig i evaluatio measures whe settig up wideig participatio iitiatives. Coclusios ad Recommedatios May factors ifluece participatio i higher educatio. The actios of higher educatio istitutios, the Departmet, the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access caot wide participatio aloe. The scope of our report is restricted to what they are able to achieve, ad our recommedatios are aimed at improvig the value for moey achieved from their wideig participatio activities. a Data o studet characteristics is ot sufficietly complete or uambiguous to idetify accurately the extet to which certai groups are uder-represeted i higher educatio. Whilst recogisig the steps already beig take to improve the data o studet characteristics, the Fudig Coucil ad the Departmet should refie, where practicable, the iformatio eeded, such as data o social class, to fully ad accurately assess the participatio of uder-represeted groups. They should research the participatio of groups about which little is kow, such as people with various types of disability ad people who have bee i care. They should further develop ad promote the use of measures which best capture participatio rates, such as participatio rates i local areas ad pupil data liked with higher educatio studet records. b Survey evidece has idicated which wideig participatio activities may be most effective but more rigorous evaluatio of idividual activities is required. The Fudig Coucil ad the Departmet should build o the existig approaches used to evaluate wideig participatio by adoptig more robust approaches to evaluatio whe settig up activities which aim to wide participatio, ad use the results to promote ad direct those activities which the evidece idicates are the most effective. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 9

12 summary c Too little is kow about the wideig participatio activities ad expediture of istitutios. The Departmet should take forward the itroductio of sigle strategic documets brigig together each istitutio s wideig participatio, fair access ad admissios policies. Istitutios should use the documets to report o their wideig participatio activities, expediture ad achievemets, icludig a assessmet of performace as idicated by the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy s performace idicators, istitutios ow iformatio o these ad other uder-represeted groups ot reported o by performace idicators ad progress agaist the objectives set out i the istitutios access agreemets. The Fudig Coucil should set stadards for reportig of the assessmets. The Office for Fair Access should ivestigate istitutios which do ot meet their access agreemet commitmets ad require a pla for improvemet if appropriate. Where istitutios caot demostrate that they are takig reasoable actio to improve, the Office for Fair Access should impose appropriate sactios. e Some idividuals from uder-represeted groups ca have limited access to higher educatio delivered i traditioal ways. The Fudig Coucil should assess demad for further diversificatio of higher educatio delivery, for example through foudatio degrees, parttime study ad schemes that allow trasfer of credit betwee istitutios. The Fudig Coucil should use this assessmet to iform the directio of fudig to support such developmets. f Some studets ad potetial studets have limited uderstadig of the differet types of fiacial support available to them. The Departmet should support ad promote the developmet of a sigle source of comprehesive iformatio for potetial applicats, studets, parets ad teachers o the sources of, ad applicatio processes, for all Govermet grats, loas ad bursaries. The iformatio provided should allow idividuals to determie their eligibility for fiacial support accordig to their persoal circumstaces. d The availability of higher educatio is limited i some locatios, which may restrict opportuities for idividuals from uder-represeted groups to participate. Followig the Govermet s ew uiversity challege iitiative the Fudig Coucil, i partership with istitutios, should determie how resources should be distributed appropriately to ehace capacity ad provisio i areas where eeded, ecouragig istitutios to provide more opportuities i those areas where demad remais umet. 10 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

13 PART ONE Progress i wideig participatio 1.1 The Govermet has a policy to wide participatio by helpig more people from uder-represeted groups, particularly lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds, to participate successfully i higher educatio. 3 Despite a overall rise i the umber of youg people takig part i higher educatio, some groups remai uder-represeted compared with the geeral populatio. The Higher Educatio Fudig Coucil for Eglad (the Fudig Coucil) has give istitutios deliverig higher educatio 392 millio betwee ad i recurret fudig for wideig participatio (excludig fudig to improve the retetio of studets), to broade the diversity of the studet populatio by ecouragig applicats from uder-represeted groups. Icreasig participatio i higher educatio 1.2 Participatio i higher educatio i Eglad has icreased over recet decades. The Departmet s measure of participatio shows that whe studets up to the age of 60 are icluded, the curret participatio rate stads at 48.7 per cet. However, participatio of youg people (17-30 year olds) has fluctuated from 39.2 per cet i to a peak of 42.5 per cet i It curretly stads at 39.8 per cet i (Figure 3 overleaf). 1.3 Scotlad ad Norther Irelad have higher rates of participatio of 18 ad 19 year olds while Eglad ad Wales have show little chage over the same period (Figure 4 overleaf). Participatio of specific groups 1.4 Not all relevat groups i society are represeted i higher educatio i proportio to their represetatio i the populatio as a whole. Previous research ad our ow aalysis have show that some importat groups are uder-represeted (Box 1 o page 14). Wome are better represeted tha me ad those from o-white ethic groups are better represeted tha white people. Social class remais a strog determiat of higher educatio participatio with the proportio from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds havig remaied largely static over the past five years. White people from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds, both me ad wome, are the most uder-represeted group. There are other groups for whom it is difficult to assess participatio because of icomplete data. 1.5 Performace idicators published aually show improvig treds i the proportio of studets from three areas: those from workig class backgrouds, low participatio eighbourhoods ad those from state schools ad colleges (Figure 5 o page 13). Performace idicators ca show a icrease i the studet populatio but do ot show chage relative to the geeral populatio, ad have limited value for demostratig chages i participatio rates. 1.6 Family icome is aother idicator of a studet s backgroud. The Studet Loas Compay collects data o family icome i order to determie etitlemet to statutory studet support. I ew studets became eligible to apply for a meas tested maiteace grat. Of those applyig, oe third received a full grat of 2,700 (Figure 6 o page 13), idicatig that they came from households with aual icome uder 17,910. This is broadly cosistet with the proportio of studets from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds (Figure 5), although socio-ecoomic backgroud is derived from paretal occupatio rather tha household icome. WIDENING PARTIcIPATION IN HIGHER EDucATION 11

14 part oe 3 Tred i higher educatio participatio Participatio i higher educatio has icreased over the past 30 years Proportio (per cet) Age Participatio Idex Number of iitial etrats to higher educatio courses i Great Britai aged uder 21, expressed as a percetage of the average umber of 18 ad 19 year olds i the geeral populatio Higher Educatio Iitial Participatio Rate Sum of participatio rates of year olds eterig higher educatio for first time Source: Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy ad the Fudig Coucil performace idicators, ad Hasard NOTES This graph illustrates two differet measures of participatio the Higher Educatio Iitial Participatio Rate (HEIPR) for to for Eglad ad the Age Participatio Idex (API) from to for Great Britai. The measures are ot directly comparable as they measure differet thigs but they show the overall icrease i participatio over the period. The Higher Educatio Iitial Participatio Rate is the sum of the participatio rates of year olds joiig full or part-time courses i publicly fuded higher educatio istitutios i the Uited Kigdom for the first time. It does ot iclude studets studyig overseas. It is the measure used to moitor progress towards the 50 per cet participatio target. The Age Participatio Idex is defied as the umber of UK domiciled iitial etrats to full-time ad sadwich udergraduate higher educatio courses i Great Britai, aged uder 21, expressed as a percetage of the average umber of 18 ad 19 year olds i the geeral populatio. 4 Participatio rate of year olds withi the UK varies betwee the coutries Youg participatio by age 19 (per cet) Year cohort reached age projected Eglad Scotlad Wales Norther Irelad Source: Higher Educatio Fudig Coucil for Eglad provisioal results from forthcomig Treds i youg participatio report NOTE Participatio rates idicate the proportio of a cohort that start a higher educatio course i a UK higher educatio istitutio or Great Britai Further Educatio College at age 18 or, a year later, at age 19. The covetio used is to label the cohorts by the year i which they are 18; relates to 18 year olds o 31 August 2005 (i Eglad) who eter higher educatio i the academic years (aged 18) or (aged 19). Data based o the ew youg participatio defiitio used for POLAR2 ( 12 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

15 part oe 5 Proportios of youg, full-time udergraduate studets from selected groups i higher educatio A gradual improvig tred for all groups over the last ie years Percetage of studet populatio Percetage from state schools ad colleges Percetage from socio-ecoomic groups IIIM, IV, V (lower socio-ecoomic backgroud i earlier classificatio) Percetage from socio-ecoomic classes 4-7 (lower socio-ecoomic backgroud) Percetage from low participatio eighbourhoods (earlier classificatio) Percetage from low participatio eighbourhoods (updated classificatio) Source: Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy ad Fudig Coucil performace idicator data NOTE Youg, UK domiciled etrats to full-time, udergraduate courses i Eglish higher educatio istitutios. 6 NOTE Number ad proportio of studets receivig maiteace grats i Aroud oe-third of studets applyig for statutory studet support received a full maiteace grat Household icome Number of studets Up to 17,910 ad receive full grat 98,000 (33%) Betwee 17,911 ad 38,330 ad 68,000 (23%) receive partial grat 38,331 or more ad receive o grat 127,000 (43%) Total 293,000 (100%) Did ot applyu Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of Studet Loas Compay data ukow Iformatio relates to studets domiciled i Eglad attedig all UK higher educatio istitutios. Causes of low participatio 1.7 Low achievemet by pupils i school is the pricipal explaatio for the differece betwee rates of participatio i higher educatio for youg studets from differet socio-ecoomic backgrouds. The proportio of studets acceptig full-time places i higher educatio icreases with attaimet: 73 per cet of studets with qualificatios equivalet to two grade Cs at A level accept a place, compared with 91 per cet of those with qualificatios equivalet to oe grade A ad two grade Bs at A level. We foud that there are virtually o differeces i acceptace rates by socio-ecoomic backgroud whe prior attaimet is accouted for (Figure 7 o page 16). 1.8 Socio-ecoomic backgroud has a strog ifluece o attaimet at school. The 20 per cet of pupils who live i the most deprived wards i Eglad make up oly 11 per cet of those who attai five or more GCSEs, the prerequisite for progressig o to study A levels. 4 GCSE attaimet ca predict the likelihood of participatio i higher educatio. 5 Two-thirds of those with five or more GCSEs are i higher educatio by age 19 compared with 12 per cet of those without. 6 Wideig participatio i higher educatio 13

16 part oe Box 1 Participatio treds of particular groups over the past five years The participatio of people i higher educatio varies for differet groups. Some groups are iter-related, i particular geder, socio ecoomic backgroud ad ethicity. Populatio sub-group Descriptio of tred from to Relative to geeral Eglish populatio Overall tred Geder Wome (aged 17-30) I geeral, participatio rates for wome are higher tha those for me for all ages from 17 to However, white females from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds are sigificatly uder-represeted compared with average female participatio rates. Well-represeted Icreasig Wideig gap betwee males ad females Females from o-white ethic backgrouds appear well-represeted. Me (aged 17-30) I geeral, me are uder-represeted i higher educatio. The proportio of me i higher educatio has remaied relatively static over the past five years. 1 Represetatio requires improvemet Static Me from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds are sigificatly uder-represeted, i particular those from white ethic backgrouds. Me from o-white groups, whether from lower or upper socio-ecoomic backgrouds appear well-represeted. Socioecoomic backgroud Lower socioecoomic backgrouds aged uder 21 Socio-ecoomic backgroud appears to affect participatio over ad above other factors such as ethicity ad geder. People from lower socio-ecoomic groups appear sigificatly uder-represeted. The proportio of the year old populatio of Eglad i higher educatio has icreased by two percetage poits to 20 per cet sice Represetatio requires improvemet Icreasig slowly with a arrower gap betwee the social classes. Upper socioecoomic backgrouds aged uder per cet of the year old Eglish populatio etered higher educatio for the first time i 2002, compared with 43.3 per cet i Despite this fall, more tha twice the proportio from upper socio-ecoomic backgrouds go to higher educatio tha from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds although the gap betwee the two groups is arrowig. Well-represeted Decreasig Ethicity Miority ethic groups as a whole Overall, youg people from ethic miority backgrouds are well-represeted ad are more likely to eter higher educatio compared to white people. White-British remai the most uder-represeted ethic group over the last five years. The participatio of youg etrats (uder 21) remais static but the participatio of those aged is icreasig. Geerally well represeted but some sub groups are uder-represeted. Static Some sub-groups of black studets are uderrepreseted at youg ages (uder 21) but wellrepreseted at ages This reflects later etry to higher educatio. Other ethic groups such as Idia, Chiese, Pakistai ad Bagladeshi are well-represeted. 14 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

17 part oe Box 1 Cotiued Participatio treds of particular groups over the past five years Populatio sub-group Descriptio of tred from to Relative to geeral Eglish populatio Overall tred Ethicity cotiued White people from lower socioecoomic backgrouds White people from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds are sigificatly uder-represeted i higher educatio. Wome are better represeted tha me, but are still sigificatly uder-represeted compared to the geeral populatio. Represetatio requires improvemet Static Deprivatio Youg people livig i deprived areas Youg people livig i deprived areas have experieced a icrease of 4.5 percetage poits sice 1998 for the most deprived 20 per cet of areas compared with a icrease of 1.8 percetage poits i the 20 per cet least deprived areas for youg Eglish etrats. 3 They remai, however, sigificatly uder-represeted compared to the geeral populatio. Represetatio requires improvemet Icreasig with a arrower gap Groups with limited data People leavig care Academic achievemet at GCSE ad A level suggests that this group are likely to be sigificatly uderrepreseted. 4 There is limited quatitative evidece but the Fudig Coucil ad the sector recogise that they are a group to target. Icoclusive Ukow People with disabilities Differeces i the way disability is defied ad recorded make accurate assessmet difficult: a idividual s disability status ca chage over time makig comparisos problematic, there are differet ways of recordig disability ad there are differet forms of disability, each with differet participatio rates. Icoclusive Appears to be icreasig Our aalyses foud a geeral icrease i the proportio of studets declarig a disability from four to six per cet over the past five years for youg people (uder 21), compared with aroud four per cet i the geeral populatio over the same period based o Labour Force Survey data. Differet approaches to obtaiig populatio estimates ca, however, lead to differet coclusios. Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis NOTES 1 Based o Higher Educatio Iitial Participatio Rate. Participatio rates i higher educatio: academic years to (provisioal). 2 Based o Full-Time Youg Participatio by Socio-ecoomic Class. It covers Eglish domiciled full-time, youg (uder 21) studets. 3 Measured by the Icome Deprivatio Affectig Childre Idex. Higher Educatio Fudig Coucil for Eglad provisioal results from forthcomig Treds i youg participatio report. 4 Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families, statistical release, SFR 27/2007. Table G1. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 15

18 part oe 7 Acceptace rates by socio-ecoomic backgroud ad prior attaimet 2006 Attaimet Low 12,093 4,332 6,759 Medium 52,607 13,770 15,845 High 73,020 11,497 12, Proportio of people acceptig a place i higher educatio (per cet) Upper socio-ecoomic backgrouds Lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds Ukow backgrouds Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of UCAS 2006 data NOTES 1 Bar height idicates proportio of youg applicats who accept a full-time place i higher educatio, umbers above bars idicate actual umber of applicats who accept a place. Attaimet has bee categorised ito low, medium ad high accordig to UCAS tariff poits obtaied at A level or equivalet: low is less tha 160 (equivalet to less tha two grade Cs at A level), medium is , high is over 320 (equivalet to more tha oe grade A ad two grade Bs at A level). 2 Eglish applicats for full-time courses, of all ages, at Eglish higher educatio istitutios. 1.9 Whilst prior attaimet is the over-ridig determiat of etry to higher educatio, a idividual may choose other routes for a umber of reasos: persoal circumstaces, attitude to educatio, the structure of educatioal provisio, ad fiacial reasos. 7 For idividuals from some commuities, alteratives to higher educatio are more highly valued. 8 A recet report foud that may who do ot participate i higher educatio do ot value its beefits ad istead opt for the idetity, social status, ad icome derived from employmet. 9 This report does ot examie these factors, but focuses o what the Fudig Coucil, the Departmet ad istitutios are doig to wide participatio. Progressio through courses 1.10 Youg people from low-participatio eighbourhoods are more vulerable to o-cotiuatio tha those from other eighbourhoods. Aroud 9.4 per cet of youg, full-time, first degree studets from low-participatio eighbourhoods startig i did ot re-register o a higher educatio course i the followig academic year, compared with 6.3 per cet of those from other eighbourhoods. 10 The Natioal Audit Office report o the retetio of studets i higher educatio, published i July 2007, showed that a differece i cotiuatio rates remaied eve after cotrollig for factors such as prior attaimet, ad that may istitutios were actively addressig the support eeds of less well-prepared etrats. 11 Quality of data o studet characteristics 1.11 Gaps i the data held o studets have a impact o the reliability of the estimates of participatio. Each istitutio submits a record for every studet to the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy o a aual basis. Not every studet record is complete as studets are ot obliged to reveal persoal characteristics defied as sesitive ad persoal by the Data Protectio Act, such as ethicity ad social class, o registerig. Social class is usually costructed from the descriptio of paretal occupatio o the UCAS applicatio form. Applicats may ot provide a accurate descriptio of their parets occupatios ad UCAS must attempt to code aswers to stadard occupatioal classificatios, with a cosequet risk of error. Over oe third of full-time studet records have ukow ad missig socio-ecoomic data each year (Figure 8). UCAS applicatio data is also icomplete, with 20 per cet missig iformatio o socio-ecoomic backgroud. However, data coverage o full-time studets is much higher tha for part-time studets who do ot apply through the UCAS system. There is very little socio-ecoomic data for part-time studets (6.6 per cet complete i ). 16 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

19 part oe 8 Percetage of data that is missig i the studet data for 2002 to 2006 The data o uder-graduate studet characteristics is missig i may cases, especially i relatio to socio-ecoomic backgroud. Full-time (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Socio-ecoomic backgroud (all ages) Socio-ecoomic backgroud (18-19 year olds) Ethicity Disability Age Part-time Socio-ecoomic backgroud Ethicity Disability Age Source: Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy studet data NOTE Full ad part-time udergraduates, from Eglad i UK higher educatio istitutios. The sharp rise i missig disability data betwee 2003 ad 2004 is believed by the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy to relate to a chage i reportig by the Ope Uiversity The gaps i the data make it difficult to say with cofidece whether small variatios i the participatio rates of particular groups (either betwee each other or over time) represet real chages i participatio. The idicators used to moitor the performace of istitutios are restricted i their coverage because of the scale of missig data, for example socio-ecoomic backgroud is oly used for youg, full-time studets, ot for mature or part-time studets. Istitutios which report the highest levels of studets from lower socio ecoomic backgrouds ted to have poorer data coverage tha those reportig lower proportios. Difficulties with makig accurate populatio estimates ad iterpretig socio ecoomic data compoud the problems with measurig participatio. I 2006 the Departmet itroduced a more refied measure of participatio by socio-ecoomic backgroud, Full-time Youg Participatio by Socio-Ecoomic Class (FYPSEC), to try to miimize the problems caused by missig data, ad the Fudig Coucil is promotig measuremet of participatio by area as a more reliable meas of moitorig participatio May items of data which would be useful for moitorig equity of participatio are ot available. For example, there is o data o whether the studet is a paret or has care resposibilities. The Departmet has made progress i likig together the data it holds o school pupils ad higher educatio studets, but the task has bee complicated by the lack of a commo studet idetificatio umber. Improvemets are beig made i recordig participatio of first-geeratio higher educatio studets ad idividuals who have bee through care; from 2008 these questios are asked of applicats for fulltime courses. There are also ogoig discussios about the sharig of icome data betwee the Studet Loas Compay ad the Departmet. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 17

20 PART TWO Impact of actios by the Departmet, Fudig Coucil ad Office for Fair Access to wide participatio 2.1 This part of the report examies the actios of the Departmet, the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access to wide participatio i higher educatio. It cosiders: fudig of wideig participatio; moitorig performace i wideig participatio; programmes to wide participatio: i ii iii Aimhigher ad other outreach activities; Lifelog Learig Networks; ad local provisio of higher educatio. Fudig of wideig participatio 2.2 Oe of the Fudig Coucil s four core aims is to promote ad provide the opportuity of successful participatio i higher educatio to everyoe who ca beefit from it. The Fudig Coucil allocates fudig to: higher ad further educatio istitutios directly to cotribute to meetig the costs of wideig participatio ( 95 millio i ); specific programmes which aim to wide participatio ( 0.75 millio i ); a programme of research ad evaluatio to iform ad support policy ( 1.5 millio i ); ad orgaisatios to idetify ad share good practice, for example Actio o Access ad the Higher Educatio Academy. 2.3 The Fudig Coucil works with higher educatio istitutios. Its goverig Board icludes members draw from higher ad further educatio istitutios makig up aroud half of its members. The members of the Board s Wideig Participatio Committee, resposible for advisig o the effectiveess of its wideig participatio strategies, predomiatly comprises uiversity ad college represetatives (13 of the 18 members). 2.4 The total Fudig Coucil grat available to support istitutios i is 7.1 billio, represetig istitutios largest source of icome. Some 95.3 millio is allocated for wideig participatio to cover the additioal costs of recruitig studets from areas with low rates of participatio i higher educatio or low average rates of educatioal achievemet. The allocatios are based o the umber of registered studets from areas with low rates of participatio of youg people, or areas with high proportios of adults without a higher educatio qualificatio, ad reflect istitutios relative performace i recruitig studets from such areas. Istitutios that are more successful i recruitig studets from such backgrouds receive proportioally more moey. May of the istitutios outreach activities beefit the sector more widely. Uless a istitutio eeds to recruit more studets to fill its places, there is o fiacial icetive to udertake outreach activities, although such activities may support the istitutio s missio ad may improve its reputatio through, for example, performace idicators. 2.5 We could ot determie how istitutios had spet icome to support their wideig participatio activities. A report commissioed by the Fudig Coucil i 2003 foud that istitutios rarely had a full set of cost data available ad that estimates of spedig were likely to be uderstated. The report estimated the costs per fudable full-time equivalet studets idetified as part of the wideig participatio cohort as ragig from 345 to 1,776, with a average of 879. This was based o fiacial data o outreach, recruitmet, retetio, staff traiig, maagemet ad the istitutioal learig ad teachig framework from 18 case study istitutios The wideig participatio allocatio forms a part of the learig ad teachig grat ad is ot rig-feced. The Fudig Coucil allocates grats to istitutios based o their overall levels of teachig activity (studet places) ad makes grat adjustmets if places are ot filled. The Fudig Coucil does ot require istitutios to report o how they sped their grat o activities aimed at 18 WIDENING PARTIcIPATION IN HIGHER EDucATION

21 part two wideig participatio or o what activities they coduct. The Fudig Coucil believes accoutability is achieved through its moitorig of performace i recruitig studets from uder-represeted groups rather tha through moitorig expediture. It has a umber of mechaisms to esure that allocatios are based o accurate data icludig validatio ad credibility checks, data audits ad recociliatios betwee differet data sources Util , the wideig participatio elemet of fudig was coditioal upo the istitutios providig acceptable strategies ad actio plas. Uder the Higher Educatio Act 2004, istitutios wishig to vary their full-time udergraduate tuitio fees must submit access agreemets to the Office for Fair Access. The Office for Fair Access was set up i 2004 with a budget of 0.5 millio with the primary aim of icreasig applicatios ad etrats from low icome ad other uder-represeted groups, followig the itroductio of variable tuitio fees i It requires all istitutios chargig full-time, udergraduate tuitio fees above the basic amout to have a approved access agreemet that sets out their measures for promotig ad safeguardig access through bursaries, scholarships ad outreach activity. 2.8 I order to miimise the admiistrative burde, the Departmet withdrew its requiremet for strategies ad actio plas. I cosequece there is little iformatio o how much istitutios sped o wideig participatio ad how they distribute their fudig to support their aims ad objectives. The further developmet of the Trasparet Approach to Costig (TRAC) 14 for teachig may i due course provide further iformatio about the costs of wideig participatio activities. Moitorig performace i wideig participatio 2.9 Public Service Agreemets set out the Govermet s key priorities for the spedig period, alogside idicators to measure progress. The Departmet has oe wideig participatio idicator, aouced i 2007: to arrow the gap betwee the iitial participatio i full-time higher educatio rates for youg people aged 18, 19 ad 20 from the top three ad bottom four socioecoomic classes. 15 The Departmet additioally moitors other uder-represeted groups. There is also a idicator at the Local Authority level for youg people from low icome backgrouds progressig to higher educatio The Fudig Coucil s Wideig Participatio Committee advises the Fudig Coucil ad is supported by a team of wideig participatio programme staff. The team moitors progress towards key wideig participatio performace targets outlied i the Fudig Coucil s operatig pla ad reports quarterly to the Board. The Fudig Coucil s regioal teams provide the frotlie commuicatio with the istitutios. Performace idicators at the istitutio level 2.11 The Performace Idicators Steerig Group cosists of represetatives of the fudig bodies, the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy, govermet departmets, higher educatio istitutios, ad other iterested bodies. It was set up i 1998 to develop performace idicators for higher educatio istitutios. It ow oversees the publicatio of existig idicators, ad cosiders whether ad how ew idicators should be developed. Betwee 1999 ad 2003 the Fudig Coucil, ad sice 2004 the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy, o behalf of the Steerig Group, have calculated ad published aually a umber of performace idicators of participatio i higher educatio (Box 2), alog with adjusted sector bechmarks. The bechmarks represet average performace across the sector adjusted to reflect the studet profile of the istitutio, takig ito accout subject of study, etry qualificatios ad age. They are desiged as comparator figures for the idicators, allowig istitutios to assess their ow performace ad compare themselves with other similar istitutios. BOX 2 Performace idicators measure the compositio of the studet populatio i higher educatio For youg (uder 21), full-time studets there are three performace idicators: percetage of etrats who atteded school/college i state sector; percetage of etrats whose parets are from socio-ecoomic groups 4 7 (lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds); ad percetage of etrats from postcodes with low proportio of 18- ad 19-year-olds i higher educatio (low participatio eighbourhoods). For mature studets (21 ad over), ad for part-time studets (all ages), oly the performace idicator relatig to eighbourhoods is calculated for those studets with o previous higher educatio qualificatio. Source: Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy website Wideig participatio i higher educatio 19

22 part two 2.12 Appedix 2 icludes a more complete descriptio of bechmarks ad presets the performace of all higher educatio istitutios i Eglad agaist their adjusted sector bechmarks from academic years to We foud that overall the idicators show a icrease i the umber of istitutios performig sigificatly above their idividual bechmarks for attractig youg studets from state schools ad lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds betwee ad I more istitutios performed sigificatly above their bechmarks for participatio of studets from low participatio eighbourhoods tha those which performed sigificatly below (Figure 9) The proportios across the sector are ot eve. There were higher cocetratios of etrats from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds i the post-1992 uiversities (those grated uiversity status after 1992), ad lower cocetratios i the Russell Group istitutios (associatio of research itesive uiversities). Eve after the prior attaimet of admitted studets is take ito accout, there is still a differece i participatio rates by type of istitutio (Figure 10). O average, uiversities from the Russell Group istitutios performed sigificatly below their bechmarks, ad post-1992 istitutios performed sigificatly above theirs. For small or specialist ad pre-1992 istitutios (excludig Russell Group), performace is o average ot sigificatly differet from their bechmarks The bechmarks are ot targets ad istitutios do ot receive fiacial rewards or sactios based o their performace. The publicatio of performace iformatio eables istitutios to moitor their performace ad provides them with a icetive to perform well to ehace their reputatios. The istitutios we visited closely moitored their achievemet agaist their bechmarks ad respoded accordigly if performace was fallig short. The role of the Office for Fair Access i moitorig 2.15 The Office for Fair Access moitors aual progress agaist access agreemet milestoes. If a istitutio does ot meet its access agreemet obligatios o the paymet of bursaries, the level of fees, or satisfactory progress towards milestoes, the Office for Fair Access has a duty to ivestigate ad ca report its fidigs i its aual report. It has two sactios it ca impose where the seriousess of the breach warrats, ad a istitutio has ot made all reasoable efforts to comply: Refuse to reew a istitutio s access agreemet, thus deyig it permissio to charge full-time, udergraduate studets tuitio fees above the basic level for a period, determied by the Director of the Office for Fair Access, after its access agreemet has expired. Istruct the Fudig Coucil to either susped part of a istitutio s grat util restitutio has bee made, or deduct a fie from the grat performace idicators show that more istitutios are over-performig tha uder-performig agaist their adjusted sector bechmarks, ad there has bee a slight overall improvemet sice Number of istitutios that were: sigificatly above ot sigificatly sigificatly below bechmark differet to bechmark bechmark Youg full-time studets from state schools 33 (28%) 41 (34%) 62 (53%) 52 (43%) 22 (19%) 27 (23%) Youg full-time studets from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds 23 (20%) 27 (23%) 70 (61%) 70 (59%) 22 (19%) 21 (18%) Youg full-time studets from low participatio eighbourhoods 24 (20%) 77 (63%) 21 (17%) Mature full-time studets from low participatio eighbourhoods 26 (22%) 66 (56%) 25 (21%) Source: Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy ad data, low participatio eighbourhood idicators for Eglish domiciled, youg, full-time studets ad mature, full-time studets, tables T1b ad T2a NOTE Data o the low participatio eighbourhood idicators is ot preseted for because of a sigificat differece i the method of calculatio itroduced i , described i Appedix 2, resultig i the data from the two years beig o-comparable. 20 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

23 part two 2.16 A istitutio s failure to meet its milestoes is ot sufficiet to trigger a sactio, but the Office for Fair Access will cosider what actios a istitutio has take or iteds to take whe the access agreemet comes up for reewal. It ca also refuse to approve a access agreemet with milestoes which are ot stretchig eough. The Office for Fair Access retured draft access agreemets that did ot have at least oe milestoe with a commitmet to makig or maitaiig progress. Sice 2006, it has ot foud it ecessary to use ay of its sactios. Durig 2009, a idepedet commissio will evaluate the impact of access agreemets. A idepedet review will also examie the first three years of the ew system of variable fees ad studet support icludig bursaries The Departmet has asked the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access for advice o how istitutios could brig together their wideig participatio, fair access ad admissios policies ito a sigle strategic documet which would be made public. The Departmet has sought advice o how they, the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access could use existig powers ad resposibilities to support istitutios to implemet their joied-up strategies ad how istitutios might be reassured that they have the ecessary expertise ad resources to fully implemet their strategies. 10 Participatio of youg full-time udergraduate etrats from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds by istitutio type takig ito accout istitutioal bechmarks for Russell Group (16) 0 = at bechmark Pre-1992 uiversities (excludig Russell Group) (23) Small/specialist colleges (30) Outlier Post-1992 uiversities (49) Guide to iterpretig the chart Most uder bechmark Average 50% of istitutios sit withi this bad Most over bechmark Below or above bechmark (percetage poits) Number of istitutios (per cet) that were: sigificatly above bechmark ot sigificatly differet to bechmark sigificatly below bechmark All istitutios 27 (23%) 70 (59%) 21 (18%) Russell Group 0 (0%) 8 (50%) 8 (50%) Post (33%) 30 (61%) 3 (6%) Pre-1992 (excludig 6 (26%) 8 (35%) 9 (39%) Russell Group) Small/specialist 5 (17%) 24 (80%) 1 (3%) Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy s performace idicator data, Table T1b NOTE The figure presets the distributio of istitutioal performace agaist bechmark for for UK domiciled studets at Eglish higher educatio istitutios from socio-ecoomic groups 4 7, for those istitutios for which data is available. Zero represets performace o bechmark. Positive umbers idicate better performace tha expected, ad egative umbers idicate worse performace tha expected. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 21

24 part two Programmes to wide participatio 2.18 The Fudig Coucil does ot deliver services to wide participatio but provides fudig for uiversities, colleges ad others to do so. Specifically, it fuds: i) outreach through Aimhigher parterships ( 87 millio i ) ad the wideig participatio portio of its grat to istitutios; ii) iii) Lifelog Learig Networks to develop progressio routes for vocatioal learers ( 104 millio up to ); ad istitutios to develop ad provide local higher educatio i areas of low provisio ( 130 millio sice ). i) Aimhigher ad other outreach activities 2.19 Istitutios work with schools ad colleges through outreach activities which aim to build up learer kowledge about the higher educatio eviromet, overtur miscoceptios about etitlemet to higher educatio, ad i some cases to ehace attaimet. It ca be delivered directly by the istitutios, through local parterships such as Aimhigher, or through specialist bodies such as the Further Mathematics Network. Outreach ca take may forms, for example: academic staff deliverig master-classes ad taster days; higher educatio studets metorig school or college studets; pupils attedig ope days, evets ad classes o campuses; ad residetial summer schools. The Aimhigher programme 2.20 The Departmet itroduced Aimhigher i 2001 as a outreach programme desiged to raise the awareess, aspiratios ad attaimet of youg people. 16 The programme targets youg people, particularly i the age rage, from disadvataged social ad ecoomic backgrouds, those with disabilities ad youg people i care. It ivolves a wide rage of collaborative activities betwee schools, colleges ad higher educatio istitutios, ad supports the provisio of iformatio, advice ad guidace to potetial studets, their teachers ad families Most of Aimhigher s fudig for ( 71.6 millio) goes to area parterships ad the balace to regios (fudig to regios eds i July 2008). Fudig is cotiuig up to 2011, with Aimhigher parterships set to receive millio i the period Parterships allocate a proportio of fudig to schools or colleges withi a area. The amout allocated to schools is ot rig-feced, varies locally ad i the period averages 38 per cet of partership budgets atioally. The Fudig Coucil does ot require schools to bid for the fudig or report o how their fudig has bee spet, cosistet with the Govermet s ew relatioship with schools which prohibits the rig-fecig of fudig to schools through the Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families stadards fud. Aimhigher Area Steerig Groups, comprisig members from further ad higher educatio, schools, local authorities ad work-based traiig providers, agree fudig for the work idetified i their approved pla, although the Steerig Groups may have little ifluece o the activities delivered i schools. The Fudig Coucil has suggested that area parterships should adjust allocatios to idividual schools that do ot use them to egage fully with the aims ad activities agreed by the partership. Summer schools 2.22 Durig the period the Fudig Coucil ad the Europea Social Fud are joitly fudig a regioal summer school programme ad collectig participat data. A recet review of the South West Aimhigher regioal partership foud that summer schools were highly regarded by participats ad that they were effective i replicatig the higher educatio experiece. The review foud that, compared with those who had take part i oresidetial wideig participatio activities, summer school participats were more likely to apply to higher educatio (32 per cet compared with 25 per cet). 17 Local Aimhigher parterships also orgaise summer schools i collaboratio with istitutios. For example, the Uiversity of Worcester hosts a residetial sports summer school ad the Uiversity of Sheffield rus a week-log Headstart Egieerig Summer school for 40 sixth-form studets from across the UK. 22 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

25 part two Studet ambassadors 2.23 May istitutios trai ad pay studets to act as ambassadors, metors ad role models i local schools. We foud that they were highly regarded by schools, with pupils relatig well to studets who are likely to be oly a few years older tha themselves. Istitutios believe that oe-to-oe support ehaces attaimet as well as aspiratio. Evaluatio is limited at this stage but there are early idicators of improved achievemet ad progressio (Box 3) I April 2008, the Secretary of State for Iovatio, Uiversities ad Skills aouced 21 millio fudig over three years for a ew atioal support scheme, Aimhigher Associates. The Departmet plas to recruit higher educatio studets to provide log-term idividual ad face-to-face support to pupils i schools ad colleges across the coutry. Pre-etry programmes 2.25 Some istitutios offer pre-etry programmes to brig applicats study skills ad baselie kowledge up to etry level, for example the Uiversity of Lacaster s Passport to Higher Educatio course (Box 4). Primary schools ad families 2.26 From our survey of school teachers we estimate that aroud 30 per cet of primary schools have participated i wideig participatio activities. Growig recogitio that disegagemet with educatio starts from a early age has led to a icrease i activities aimed at pupils of primary school age. For example, at the atioal level the Aimhigher Professor Fluffy project developed by the Uiversity of Liverpool is targeted at ie ad te year olds. We also foud examples of istitutios targetig youger pupils ad ivolvig parets (Box 5 overleaf). Loger-term activities 2.27 Practitioers coductig outreach activities told us that they regard loger-term activities to be more effective tha oe-off evets. Actio o Access is developig with Aimhigher parterships ad istitutios a learer progressio framework to eable istitutios to offer more itegrated support, buildig over time, with a focus o key trasitio poits at ages 14, 16 ad This is a shift from oe-off itervetios to a plaed programme of activities for a specific cohort of idividuals (Box 6 overleaf). Evaluatig the impact of outreach 2.28 The ature of outreach work is log-term ad it is difficult to demostrate that ay rise i higher educatio participatio is liked to specific activities. I its evaluatio of the Aimhigher programme i 2006, the Natioal Foudatio for Educatioal Research 19 surveyed youg people who had take part i Aimhigher activities such as summer schools ad metorig i the previous few years. It foud that participatio i Aimhigher-related activities was associated with aspiratios ad itetios to cotiue to higher educatio, though it was too early BOX 3 Early results from a small metorig programme Studets from the Uiversity of Worcester metor pupils studyig for their GCSEs at a school i a deprived area. Pupils are selected by their teachers o the basis of their predicted grades (o the C/D border) ad their vulerability to lose focus. The school cosiders that metorig played a vital role i keepig some of the pupils o track, ad ecouragig ad eablig others. The school foud that of those puils who were metored i oe year group, a greater umber of pupils achieved more A*-C grades at GCSE tha predicted. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Worcester BOX 4 Preparig for higher educatio Five parter istitutios developed the four week accredited Passport to Higher Educatio programme, ru by the Uiversity of Lacaster. It provides a bridge betwee school or college ad higher educatio, by providig additioal academic qualificatios ad experiece. The optios iclude a combiatio of study skills modules ad academic modules. The Passport Certificate is awarded to studets who successfully complete two academic modules ad the four Preparatio for Higher Educatio modules (i face-to-face, distace learig or o-lie format). May istitutios accept this award alogside other Level 3 qualificatios as supplemetary evidece of ability ad potetial to succeed i higher educatio. The programme is free to learers that meet certai criteria, most of which relate to uder-represeted groups, for example first i family to eter higher educatio, receipt of state beefits, or those with a disability that affects study. 1 Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Lacaster Wideig participatio i higher educatio 23

26 part two to say whether the activities had led to a icrease i participatio. Coversely, a evaluatio comparig Local Authorities which had implemeted Aimhigher with those that had ot, foud o positive ad statistically sigificat effect o further or higher educatio participatio rates (ad educatioal attaimet) for youg idividuals. 20 A evaluatio by the South Yorkshire Aimhigher partership foud immediate beefits from its school roadshows (Box 7). BOX 5 Examples where istitutios are startig cotact with schools earlier The Uiversity of Sheffield targets Year 9 ad above through the Sheffield s Outreach ad Access to Medicie Scheme (SOAMS). The programme is targeted at Year 9, first-geeratio potetial studets who eed to study locally or have persoal circumstaces which are likely to limit their chaces of eterig higher educatio. The programme icludes a itroductio to the medical studet experiece, attaimet raisig activities, iterview practice, e-metorig opportuities, summer schools, revisio workshops ad sessios with parets. O average aroud 30 per cet of the participats who start o SOAMS i Year 9 progress oto Phase 2 of the programme whe they reach Year 12. At this stage they also accept a few additioal studets from local colleges directly ito Phase 2. Aroud per cet of participats o Phase 2 ultimately progress oto Sheffield Medical School, with early all of the Phase 2 studets progressig oto a higher educatio course, either at Sheffield or elsewhere. The Uiversity of Worcester uses sport as a vehicle to egage youg people ad their families. They have a atioal league basketball team which visits schools ad colleges to raise the profile of higher educatio. Local yougsters ad parets visit the campus to watch the basketball games, raisig their familiarity with a higher educatio eviromet. They also ecourage uder- 10s to play i football touramets o Uiversity sports fields. Sheffield Hallam Uiversity has a rage of early outreach activities focused o Year 8 Year 10s ad uses studet ambassadors i all activities. It also has outreach tailored to address paretal cocers, for example Uiversity Experiece Eveigs, targetig Year 9 pupils ad parets. The Uiversity has ow also commeced a programme of Aimhigher Professor Fluffy activity with Year 5s. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Sheffield, Uiversity of Worcester ad Sheffield Hallam Uiversity BOX 6 Example of a log-term scheme for youg people The Uiversity of Readig rus a Aimhigher fuded programme Makig Progress for pupils aged 14 17, aimed at schools with low average attaimet, i low participatio areas ad i deprived areas. Some 10 per cet of year olds i 23 state schools located i the more deprived eighbourhoods i Berkshire are usually chose based o their ability to obtai five A*-C grades at GCSE but who are ulikely to succeed without support. Age 14 15: i-school metorig by uiversity studet, parets iformatio eveig ad three day uiversity experiece followed by a ope day. Age 15 16: taster day ad support with GCSE revisio. Age 16 17: place at HE4me Scheme to ayoe who has successfully take part ad would like to fid out more about how to apply to higher educatio. There is a compact scheme available to suitable cadidates who would like to study at a local college or uiversity. Aroud 98 per cet of participats had o paretal experiece of higher educatio. Overall, 79 per cet of Makig Progress participats achieved five A*-Cs at GCSE i compariso with 36 per cet i their home schools ad 86 per cet remaied i educatio after age 16. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Readig BOX 7 Example of short-term impact moitorig Data from Aimhigher South Yorkshire for their roadshows for pupils aged 12 13, which cost approximately 40,000 per year, highlights the impact that outreach activities ca have o pupils perceptios of higher ad further educatio. The roadshows visited 12 schools across South Yorkshire with 1,758 pupils participatig. Participats are asked how do you feel about further ad higher educatio? at the start ad the ed of the sessio. The followig data illustrates the feedback from oe roadshow: Excited Cofidet Not Iterested Worried Before After Source: Aimhigher South Yorkshire Aual Moitorig Report 1 August July Wideig participatio i higher educatio

27 part two 2.29 There is some evidece that Aimhigher activities have led to stroger attaimet at GCSE. A logitudial aalysis 21 trackig youg people foud a small associatio betwee itervetios ad pupil attaimet after cotrollig for backgroud characteristics at school ad pupil level, ad there are examples of specific activities which have proved effective (Box 8). Our case study respodets told us that they had difficulty i keepig i cotact with youg people who had take part i wideig participatio activities, therefore it was ot possible to determie whether they made the trasitio to higher educatio. The Departmet ad the Fudig Coucil have recetly commissioed the Natioal Foudatio for Educatioal Research to track learer data from the atioal pupil database to the Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy record to ascertai the degree of participatio by cohorts i the early Excellece Challege phase of the programme It is difficult to judge whether Aimhigher has bee cost-effective because of limited iformatio o impact ad cost. Research commissioed by the Departmet foud sigificat variatio i delivery costs betwee parterships for what appeared to be similar activities, although this may be explaied by differeces i the way the activities were costed. 22 The report recommeded that Aimhigher parterships receive cosistet guidace about how fudig should be used. Aimhigher represetatives we met durig our case studies suggested the programme could be improved through loger-term fudig (to address what is a log-term eed) ad through more joit workig betwee Aimhigher parterships. Natioal guidace o evaluatio 2.31 The Fudig Coucil s 2006 survey of uiversities ad colleges foud that more tha 80 per cet collect studet iformatio such as post-code, geder ad ethicity. Less tha oe half, however, collect the occupatio of the family s chief wage earer from which socio-ecoomic backgroud could be derived. Data collectio eeds to be improved if wideig participatio activities are to be better targeted at people from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds To support the developmet of better evaluatio, the Fudig Coucil has commissioed a series of capacitybuildig workshops ad developed a ew practitioer guide 23 with a set of criteria agaist which wideig participatio iitiatives ca be tested (Box 9). 24 From , the Fudig Coucil will require all Aimhigher parterships to submit a evaluatio pla ad report o evaluatio at the ed of each year. BOX 8 Example of icreased attaimet at Maths GCSE a Aimhigher award wier I the South East, the Aimhigher Berkshire Partership with fudig support from the Regioal Office developed ad delivered a umber of maths residetial weekeds, with a local target school for which they were the awarded a atioal Aimhigher award. I 2004, before the activities bega, 22 per cet of pupils i the target school were achievig 5 A*-C grades at maths GCSE. I 2006, followig a evet at the Uiversity of Readig, 44 per cet wet o to gai maths GCSE at grade C or above ad this rose to 51 per cet i Followig the success of the scheme, it has ow bee rolled out to aother seve target schools across Berkshire. Source: Natioal Aimhigher awards scheme Wier of category 1: Aimhigher school/college award. BOX 9 The Fudig Coucil s evaluatio criteria for wideig participatio activities Level Aim of the wideig participatio activity 1 Participats awareess, cofidece buildig, aspiratio, kowledge of higher educatio 2 The extet of chage i capacities as well as cofidece 3 Istitutioal/sectoral impact icludig chages i school/ higher educatio egagemet, teacher ad paret opiios of effect of itervetios 4 Natioal ad/or log term objectives Examples of evidece Feedback questioaires, focus groups GCSE scores, stayig o rates, progressio to higher educatio i areas/schools Reported levels of studet cofidece ad motivatio Questioaires, focus groups, iterviews Trackig schemes by istitutios ad Aimhigher Source: Sauders et al. (2007), Wideig Participatio capacity buildig ad evaluatio The evaluatios will feed ito a ed of year assessmet of the impact of Aimhigher. 25 The Fudig Coucil commissioed ew research i March 2008 to ivestigate the cotributio of Aimhigher ad other programmes to the participatio of uder-represeted groups i higher educatio. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 25

28 part two Targetig outreach activities 2.33 We foud widespread cocer that may pupils who take part i activities ru by higher educatio istitutios, such as taster days, ited to apply to higher educatio ayway as teachig staff rely o pupils voluteerig or select those that are ethusiastic. Practitioers coductig outreach activities cotiue to work with teachers to explai the aims of the programmes. I 2007 the Fudig Coucil i cojuctio with the Departmet issued guidace to istitutios o the criteria it believes should be used i targetig wideig participatio activities to make most effective use of the fudig. 26 These criteria defie target groups for both Aimhigher ad istitutio wideig participatio activities as learers from: socio-ecoomic groups 4-8; ad disadvataged backgrouds i areas of relative deprivatio where participatio i higher educatio is low The Fudig Coucil s guidace suggests a three stage process for targetig learers: Stage 1 area level targetig (schools, colleges, commuities) Stage 2 learer level targetig Stage 3 moitorig the effectiveess of targetig. The Fudig Coucil will assess the impact of the ew guidace o targetig usig the Aimhigher parterships 2008 moitorig returs To target effectively, istitutios require data o relative deprivatio, participatio rates ad socio-ecoomic backgroud at school ad pupil level for their catchmet area. The Fudig Coucil makes some data available to parterships (participatio rates of local areas data ad applicat statistics from UCAS) but istitutios or Aimhigher parterships have to egotiate access to other data sources idividually with the bodies that hold the data, for example Local Authorities. I practice, we foud istitutios ad programmes such as Aimhigher use a rage of datasets. For example, the Ket ad Medway Aimhigher partership uses a rage of criteria ad relies o a good dialogue betwee the partership ad schools ad colleges (Box 10). The Uiversity of Lacaster uses software to map ad aalyse studet applicatios (Box 11). BOX 10 Targetig criteria for schools by Ket ad Medway Aimhigher Whe workig with schools the Aimhigher Ket ad Medway partership uses: Attaimet (the percetage of learers with 5 A*-C grades at GCSE); Free school meals (percetage of learers i receipt); Low participatio eighbourhoods (percetage of learers with postcodes i areas with low participatio i higher educatio); Levels of disadvatage as measure by the Idex of Multiple Deprivatio of 2004 (percetage of learers from Lower Super Output Areas or wards with high deprivatio); ad Progressio at Key Stage 4 (percetage of learers who progress to Year 12/further educatio). Whe workig with post-16 providers, the partership uses data as follows: Levels of disadvatage as measured by the Idex of Multiple Deprivatio of 2004 (percetage of learers from Lower Super Output Areas or wards with high deprivatio); Educatio Maiteace Allowace (percetage learers i receipt); Low levels of learer iterest i higher educatio; ad Rates of learer progressio to higher educatio from specific level 3 (i.e. A level equivalet) courses. Source: Natioal Audit Office review of Uiversity of Greewich targetig guidace BOX 11 Pro-Clarity the Uiversity of Lacaster s software for aalysig its progress i recruitmet Pro-Clarity is a maagemet iformatio system which eables the Uiversity of Lacaster to make better strategic decisios about recruitmet ad targetig. The system allows multiple sets ad types of data to be combied ad modelled, for example, studet applicatios ad registratios, market itelligece ad other relevat iformatio sources. It creates maps showig where applicats come from ad where other types of schools ad studets likely to be iterested i Lacaster are located regioally ad atioally, allowig it to target its activities. Source: Natioal Audit Office: Uiversity of Lacaster 26 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

29 part two ii) Lifelog Learig Networks 2.36 Research suggests that learers o vocatioal programmes are less likely to progress to higher educatio tha those o a academic route. The Youth Cohort Study 27 foud that 51 per cet of those takig vocatioal level 3 qualificatios go to higher educatio before the age of 20 compared with 84 per cet of those takig A levels. A combiatio of fewer courses appropriate for those with vocatioal qualificatios, ad vocatioal learers havig, o average, sigificatly fewer GCSE passes tha those takig level 3 academic qualificatios such as A levels, uderlie the variatio The Fudig Coucil established a programme of Lifelog Learig Networks i 2004, with fudig of 104 millio ow allocated to 30 etworks across Eglad, each with fudig for a three year period betwee Jauary 2005 ad August Lifelog Learig Networks are area, regioal ad atioal collaboratios of uiversities ad colleges which create opportuities for vocatioal learers. They aim to ehace the coherece, clarity ad certaity of vocatioal progressio ito ad through higher educatio, takig ito accout local ecoomic cotext ad regioal skill priorities, through: developig advice ad persoalised support for vocatioal learers; aligig ad developig curriculum to facilitate progressio; ad establishig progressio agreemets, icludig agreemets o credit trasfer May Networks are i the process of developig or have lauched progressio agreemets which clarify etry requiremets ito higher educatio by agreeig betwee parters how vocatioal learers ca progress from specific programmes or istitutios to other programmes. This work icludes mappig progressio opportuities for the five ew Diplomas begiig i Networks are also developig credit frameworks which eable the recogitio ad trasfer of learig withi higher educatio, for example, the Ket ad Medway Credit Framework (Box 12). Learers ca assemble uits of learig, eter ad leave higher educatio at structured poits ad build up credit at their ow pace. Flexible study arragemets ca be more appealig to some learers tha committig upfrot to three years of study, particularly those with other obligatios which may otherwise prevet them from cosiderig higher educatio. BOX 12 Ket ad Medway Credit Framework The Ket ad Medway Credit Framework aims to brig together ad formalise the differet credit regimes across four uiversities ad seve further educatio colleges. All 11 istitutios withi the Lifelog Learig Network will accept each others credits ad the other istitutios quality assurace processes. This will eable a learer to use previous study towards etry requiremets or a qualificatio. The istitutios i the Network are workig together to esure that through awardig ad recogisig credit, they ca: Ecourage learig by recogisig achievemet gaied for small bites of learig, ad for sigle uits; Eable learers to build up credits towards a qualificatio; Support progressio ito ad through higher educatio programmes of study ad qualificatios offered by Ket ad Medway providers; ad Support the developmet of flexible, work-based learig opportuities to meet the eeds of idividuals ad employers. Source: Ket ad Medway Credit Framework Partership Agreemet developed for the Ket ad Medway Lifelog Learig Network At preset there is ot a atioal credit framework i Eglad, ulike i Scotlad ad Wales. However, i respose to the Burgess review 29, the Departmet is workig with uiversities ad colleges to develop proposals for atioal arragemets for credit i higher educatio ad for a commo further/higher educatio approach to credit. A Credit Issues Developmet Group is curretly facilitatig a programme that will lead to istitutios volutarily assessig ad publishig the credit value of their programmes. Further ad higher educatio istitutios are also workig together to develop a commo approach to credit that ca operate across both sectors. Evaluatig the impact of Lifelog Learig Networks 2.40 Networks are expected to set clear targets for the umber of studets accessig the rage of programmes ad progressig to higher educatio. The Fudig Coucil proposes to evaluate success i terms of improvemets to the patter of progressio of vocatioal learers ad expects activity to be embedded ad sustaied after the fudig period eds. 30 The Fudig Coucil will the cosider the log-term sustaiability as part of a full evaluatio of Lifelog Learig Networks i or shortly after Wideig participatio i higher educatio 27

30 part two 2.41 Assessig the cost-effectiveess of the activities at this early stage is difficult because of a lack of cosistetly recorded comparative data. The Fudig Coucil commissioed a iterim evaluatio which foud that Networks are makig progress but that it is too soo to coclude whether the objectives will be met, partly a reflectio that some are recetly established. 31 The iterim review made a umber of recommedatios relatig to the moitorig ad evalutio of Lifelog Learig Network activities. It also recommeded that the Fudig Coucil provide additioal guidace to the Networks o capturig data, fiacial reportig ad moitorig. iii) Local provisio of higher educatio 2.42 Studet mobility has decreased over recet years with more studets choosig to study locally ad/or live at home. The proportio of full-time, first degree studets livig i istitutioally maaged accommodatio fell from 35 per cet to 27 per cet betwee ad , while the proportio livig with their parets icreased from 12 per cet to 20 per cet. 32 The distace to a suitable higher educatio istitutio is a factor for may potetial applicats, particularly for those from uderrepreseted groups. Research has foud that may first geeratio etrats are uwillig or uable to move away from home to study i higher educatio ad prefer local provisio. 33 Learers ca be costraied by where the earest istitutio is located, how easy it is to travel there ad whether that provisio matches their qualificatio, subject ad study prefereces. Our survey of usuccessful applicats icluded some respodets for whom study i their home tow was their oly optio: I was ot accepted at the uiversity which is close to where I live. I wated to study from home as my wife is disabled ad I look after her A recet assessmet of the locatio of higher educatio provisio agaist populatio foud that the distributio of higher educatio opportuities is ot uiform across Eglad. 34 Some urba areas lack sufficiet opportuities, while some relatively small tows ad cities appear to be over-supplied (Figure 11). The Fudig Coucil has started to look at the demad for, ad the effect of, local higher educatio provisio, explorig ways to defie ad determie low provisio At preset, istitutios apply to the Fudig Coucil for fudig to develop provisio i ew locatios. The Fudig Coucil s regioal teams, i cojuctio with regioal agecies ad istitutios, make assessmets of the eed for additioal cetres for provisio based o local eed, employer demad ad what is beig met by eighbourig istitutios. Betwee 2003 ad 2007, the Fudig Coucil allocated a total of 130 millio to 32 capital projects across eight regios of Eglad, with projects additioally leveragig fudig from other sources. 36 Whe fully operatioal, they are expected to provide places for a additioal 9,000 studets. We foud several examples of iitiatives to provide higher educatio i areas lackig provisio (Box 13). The Fudig Coucil has ot yet fully evaluated the impact of this additioal provisio The Departmet has aouced a ew policy, the ew uiversity challege, which aims to provide higher educatio i areas of uder-provisio. 37 The Departmet ad the Fudig Coucil have recetly aouced a cosultatio for developig a biddig mechaism for fudig ew higher educatio cetres or uiversity campuses, icludig criteria for assessig fudig proposals. The Fudig Coucil will draw upo its Strategic Developmet Fud for the expasio of local ad regioal provisio over the ext 6 years, creatig up to 10,000 ew studet places. BOX 13 Workig with other istitutios to provide higher educatio i areas lackig provisio The Uiversity Cetre Folkestoe is a joit veture with Caterbury Christ Church ad the Uiversity of Greewich to develop higher educatio provisio i the Folkestoe ad South Ket area. With fudig from the Haa Charitable Trust, the South East of Eglad Developmet Agecy ad the Fudig Coucil, it aims to brig higher educatio to the regio ad support lifelog learig, while workig with employers to idetify traiig eeds. The Cetre offers hoours degrees, foudatio degrees ad short courses, ad is a commuity veue. The Uiversities at Medway has three uiversities o a sigle site, i a area which previously had little higher educatio provisio ad low rates of participatio i higher educatio. The Uiversity of Greewich, Caterbury Christ Church Uiversity ad the Uiversity of Ket provide a rage of higher educatio courses whilst sharig commo facilities such as a library ad cafeteria. The Uiversity of Worcester works with schools ad further educatio colleges across Herefordshire, South Staffordshire, Gloucestershire ad Shropshire via its Lifelog Learig Network ad Aimhigher parterships. This wide geographical spread recogises the low level of higher educatio provisio i these rural areas. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Greewich ad Uiversity of Worcester 28 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

31 part two 11 Locatios of higher educatio istitutios i relatio to the distributio of the Eglish populatio from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds Campus by istitutio type Post-1992 Pre-1992 (excludig Russell Group) Russell Group Small/specialist Other Lodo SEC 4-7 Populatio Desity Number of people from SEC 4-7 (lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds) per square km 1,060 to 2, to 1, to to to 70 Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of populatio data from the 2001 Cesus (Key Statistics Table 14A) ad higher educatio istitutio postcode data from Higher Educatio Statistics Agecy Campus Record Wideig participatio i higher educatio 29

32 PART THREE What higher educatio istitutios are doig to wide participatio 3.1 This part of the report examies how istitutios have iflueced participatio. It cosiders: the admissios process; types of qualificatio, modes of delivery ad etry support; studet fiacial support from istitutios; workig with schools ad colleges; ad seior maagemet support for wideig participatio. The admissios process 3.2 Higher educatio istitutios determie their ow admissios policies ad criteria for assessig applicats. I 2004 the Schwartz review 38 idetified five mai priciples for fair admissios ad made a umber of recommedatios for good practice that uderpi the assessmet of applicats to higher educatio. The review cocluded that a fair admissios system should seek to miimise barriers for applicats. These could iclude barriers arisig from the meas of assessmet, the type of qualificatios a applicat holds (vocatioal or academic), ad disability. The Supportig Professioalism i Admissios Programme 39 was commissioed by the Departmet i 2008 to udertake research ito the implemetatio of the recommedatios of the Schwartz review. I April 2008, as part of the wideig participatio ageda, the Departmet ecouraged all higher educatio istitutios to publish their admissios policies ad requested that the Fudig Coucil ad the Office for Fair Access pla to look at how each istitutio could adopt ope ad accoutable admissios systems. 3.3 From our survey of applicats who were uplaced followig the 2006 UCAS applicatio cycle, we foud that these uplaced applicats received varyig levels of assistace with completig their applicatio form. I particular: Those from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds received sigificatly less adequate iformatio, advice ad guidace from frieds ad family tha those from upper socio-ecoomic backgrouds, ad were more likely ot to have received ay at all. Applicats greatly appreciated dedicated support o the applicatio process, for example advice ad guidace directly from tutors o completig applicatios. Strogly positive commets teded to come from those that received oe-to-oe support. Older applicats, who were ot i school or college, foud the applicatio process ad accessig the ecessary advice more difficult. 3.4 Istitutios have moved the deadlie for UCAS applicatios by a moth to mid-jauary, to give those writig refereces for applicats more time to assess the idividual s abilities. This is particularly relevat for applicats studyig at further educatio ad sixth form colleges where teachig staff may oly have kow pupils for a relatively short time, ad therefore is likely to geerally beefit applicats from uder-represeted groups. Aother developmet i 2008 was the re-lauch of the UCAS Extra service for applicats who do ot receive ay offers from their iitial UCAS applicatio, providig applicats with aother chace i February- March to apply to higher educatio i the same year. 30 WIDENING PARTIcIPATION IN HIGHER EDucATION

33 part three Istitutio etry qualificatios 3.5 Vocatioal etry qualificatios pose both challeges ad opportuities. Some istitutios have a log history of acceptig etry qualificatios other tha A levels but say that there are challeges i keepig up with what is offered i terms of cotet ad appropriateess. The istitutios that we visited were geerally supportive of the ew Diplomas, but would be lookig carefully at the cotet of courses to seek assurace that they adequately prepare studets for higher educatio. 3.6 We foud that istitutios preset etry requiremets differetly, for example i their prospectuses ad websites, the latter icreasigly becomig the mai source of up-to-date iformatio about etry to higher educatio. Some list oly A level grades, others the UCAS tariff poits, ad there is cosiderable variatio i the coverage of vocatioal qualificatios. Aroud 70 per cet of courses ow have Etry Profiles o the UCAS website, which iclude qualificatio etry requiremets. A survey of applicats by the Supportig Professioalism i Admissios Programme i 2007 foud that 84 per cet of respodets looked for a Etry Profile, ad Etry Profiles o the UCAS website received aroud two millio hits i March It is too early to say if Etry Profiles will help to wide participatio. 3.7 The Uistats website, lauched i November 2007 ad ru by UCAS o behalf of the Fudig Coucil, compares udergraduate subjects at higher educatio istitutios i the UK by etry requiremets, graduate employmet rates ad studet satisfactio rates, ad is a useful resource for potetial applicats ad those that advise them. It has a target to double the usage of its predecessor site (Teachig Quality Iformatio), which was uder-used. The umber of visits to the Uistats website betwee Jauary ad March 2008 was uchaged from the umber of visits to the Teachig Quality Iformatio site betwee Jauary ad March Iterviews ad admissios tests 3.8 Iterviews ad admissios tests are used by some istitutios for etry to certai subjects ad courses. They ca be used as part of the admissios decisio-makig process ot oly o kowledge ad ability, but also o aptitude ad potetial, particularly i high demad subjects, for example healthcare-related subjects. A 2007 review by the Supportig Professioalism i Admissios Programme foud that there were 45 istitutios (out of 311 i UCAS 2008 etry scheme) usig oe or more admissios test, ad that 57 differet tests were beig used, but that tests were used i assessig applicatios to less tha oe half of oe per cet of all courses. Ogoig research ito the use of oe geeric admissios test has foud that after takig ito accout GCSE ad A level performace, scores are geerally related to a umber of backgroud ad socio-ecoomic factors icludig geder ad ethicity. 40 Applicats from certai educatioal/ icome backgrouds are more likely to have bee coached i iterview ad admissios test techiques, whereas such tests could be a dautig experiece for applicats with little or o experiece of them. 3.9 We foud examples of istitutios idetifyig ad flaggig applicatios from wideig participatio studets. This practice esures that the admissios tutors are aware of how wideig participatio applicatios should be treated. However, this cetralised oversight is ot stadard. The Uiversity of Sheffield uses this approach (Box 14 overleaf), but at preset it oly covers a quarter of applicatios to the istitutio, though it is iteded to roll it out to other departmets. Higher educatio compact schemes 3.10 Compact schemes give special cosideratio to the circumstaces of studets who come from schools or colleges with which a higher educatio istitutio has a arragemet. They are of particular relevace to studets whose circumstaces may make them less likely to progress to higher educatio. Schemes vary i their approach: some give lower etry qualificatio offers tha is typical, some guaratee places o meetig certai pre-etry criteria, ad some give extra UCAS poits, although such decisios are depedet o additioal evidece of a applicat s potetial for successful study. Some compact schemes are bilateral agreemets specific to a school or college, others ecompass a wide rage of schools ad colleges. The Departmet ad the Fudig Coucil are reviewig the coverage, umber ad rage of compact schemes. They pla to examie the mechaisms adopted withi differet schemes ad where possible will assess the impact upo both learers ad istitutios. We foud a umber of compact schemes durig our case study visits (Box 15 overleaf). Types of qualificatio, modes of delivery ad etry support 3.11 Three year, full-time hoours degrees are the most commo higher educatio experiece. Some istitutios, however, are makig use of ew practices i learig ad teachig to diversify the way higher educatio is delivered ad improve quality. Durig our fieldwork we saw examples of istitutios rethikig the marketig of their courses to esure they are iclusive ad meaigful to applicats from uder-represeted groups, ad some istitutios have broadeed their studet profile by addig Wideig participatio i higher educatio 31

34 part three ew courses to their prospectus. For example, the Royal Veteriary College ow icludes some of its courses uder the baer Biological Scieces rather tha Veteriary Sciece so that they appear less exclusive, ad has itroduced Bioveteriary Scieces ad a foudatio degree i Veteriary Nursig. Some istitutios see flexible ad part-time courses as addressig a eed from uder-represeted learers, for example those with care resposibilities, ad as a result, the umber or people able to choose part-time study has icreased. For example, a ew programme offers a flexible route for learers to study chemistry or physics through two years part-time at the Ope Uiversity followed by two years full-time at oe of six istitutios aroud the UK, icludig Lacaster, Readig ad Sheffield Uiversities. Foudatio degrees 3.12 Foudatio degrees bega i 2001 as a itermediate, work-related higher educatio qualificatio. They are desiged i cojuctio with employers ad are commoly delivered by further educatio colleges i partership with higher educatio istitutios. Foudatio degrees are desiged as a ed qualificatio i their ow right but ca cout towards a full hoours degree with a further moths of full-time study I there were approximately 72,000 studets erolled o foudatio degrees. 41 The target is to have 100,000 learers erolled by Although ot desiged explicitly to wide participatio, foudatio degrees attract people from a broader rage of backgrouds ad provide a alterative route for those without A levels. Of studets udertakig foudatio degrees: the majority were over 21 o etry; approximately half had qualificatios other tha A levels, compared with a third of the geeral udergraduate populatio; 42 both white etrats ad black Caribbea etrats represeted a bigger proportio of foudatio degree etrats tha they did for udergraduate provisio. All other ethic groups represeted a correspodig lower proportio; 54 per cet of studets udertakig foudatio degrees i wet o to udertake full-time hoours degrees; ad people from low participatio eighbourhoods were better represeted. BOX 14 Reviewig applicatios for detistry at the Uiversity of Sheffield Applicatios that are received from participats of the ADOPT Scheme (Access to Detal Occupatios: Practice ad Tutorig) or through the Compact Scheme are idetified ad go through a separate process. Tutors look at GCSEs ad expect to see a good rage of A ad B grades. Eve if the applicat is ot predicted AAB grades at A level, the stadard offer for detistry, they are ot rejected immediately ad the tutor reviews the refereces ad persoal statemets. They look for evidece of potetial to succeed o the degree programme, studet motivatio ad commitmet, work experiece, ad research ito detistry. If the applicat meets all the criteria the he/she will be ivited for a iterview. The fial offer made will still be AAB as the istitutio does ot wat to lower stadards, ad it gives the applicat a target to aim for. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Sheffield BOX 15 Examples of Compact schemes The Uiversity of Greewich works with post-16 learers i eight sixth-forms ad two colleges i the Lodo boroughs of Bexley, Lewisham ad Greewich to address low progressio rates of learers, particularly those o vocatioal courses. Through the partership, the istitutio offers sustaied support to learers who have the ability to progress oto higher educatio but are either ulikely to do so or would struggle without additioal support. More specifically, the scheme targets learers with o paretal experiece of higher educatio. Support icludes workshops, presetatios, evets, olie iformatio ad sustaied support from studet ambassadors. Durig the programme, which was fuded by the Learig ad Skills Coucil ad the Europea Social Fud, 139 of 259 idividuals progressed to higher educatio. The Uiversity of Sheffield has a strog relatioship with a large umber of schools ad colleges withi the regio ad through these liks, aims to raise awareess of the higher educatio opportuities that are available to studets. The Compact Scheme operated by the Uiversity aims to ecourage all studets who have the ability, icludig those who might ot ordiarily do so, to cosider higher educatio as a optio. The scheme offers geeric support to schools ad colleges throughout the applicatios process, as well as offerig idividual support to applicats whose schools/colleges idetify them as deservig special cosideratio, if they are iterested i applyig for a course at the Uiversity. Sheffield Hallam Uiversity has logstadig Associate School ad College Parterships with over oe hudred local schools ad colleges. All are withi reasoable travellig distace of the Uiversity. Partership bursaries are available to studets who progress to Sheffield Hallam Uiversity. It has evidece of icreased iterest from parters i respect of both activities/projects ad studet applicatios sice the parterships commeced. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Greewich, Uiversity of Sheffield ad Sheffield Hallam Uiversity 32 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

35 part three 3.14 Take up of foudatio degrees has icreased whilst take up of the similar Higher Natioal Diplomas has declied (Figure 12), suggestig that overall foudatio degrees have chaged the choice of qualificatio, although take together the umber takig both types of qualificatio has icreased. Foudatio degrees cover subject areas that were ot previously available at Higher Natioal Diploma or equivalet level. Access courses 3.15 Delivered mostly by further educatio colleges ad targeted, i particular, at groups which are uder represeted i higher educatio, Access courses are specially desiged to provide preparatio for higher educatio for mature studets who have few, if ay, other qualificatios (Box 16) The Fudig Coucil estimates that aroud 25 per cet of first-time, mature etrats to full-time degree programmes eter via a Access course. Aroud 40 per cet of those who joied Access courses i wet o to udertake higher educatio studies ad aroud two-thirds of these successfully graduated. This compares favourably with studets who etered higher educatio with o-a level qualificatios, aroud 60 per cet of whom graduated, but somewhat lower tha studets with A levels, aroud 75 per cet of whom graduated. 43 Participatio i high-demad subjects 3.17 Targetig potetial applicats from low participatio groups ca be a useful tactic for istitutios to recruit to low-demad courses, but there are examples of istitutios makig efforts to wide participatio i high-demad subjects. High-demad courses usually require higher attaimet i etry qualificatios, which makes it difficult for pupils i schools where academic achievemet is relatively low to gai access to the courses ad subsequet professios. Some istitutios we visited had itroduced alterative pathways to professioal courses (Box 17 overleaf). BOX 16 A example of Access course provisio Ope College of the North West is a partership scheme betwee six uiversities (which supply educatioal expertise ad academic validatio) ad approximately 50 further educatio, adult educatio ad sixth-form colleges. Of these five uiversities ad 26 provider orgaisatios are actively ivolved i Access to Higher Educatio. Seve Access pathways coverig a rage of subject areas provide progressio to higher levels of study ad traiig. Idividuals with o previous formal qualificatios ca register for the course ad where successful ca gai a Access to Higher Educatio Diploma ad admissio to udergraduate programmes. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Lacaster 12 Number of studets awarded Higher Natioal Diplomas have falle while those awarded foudatio degrees have rise i Eglish higher educatio istitutios to Studets awarded the qualificatio (000) Year Higher Natioal Diploma Foudatio degree Source: Respose to questio i House of Commos asked o 20 February 2007: Wideig participatio i higher educatio 33

36 part three Studet fiacial support from istitutios 3.18 From September 2006 istitutios have bee able to charge ew, full-time studets tuitio fees up to a maximum value of 3,000 i ad 3,070 i , subject to a agreemet approved by the Office for Fair Access. Most istitutios are chargig the full fees, although a small umber charge less tha the maximum ad some charge differet fees for differet courses. Istitutios chargig tuitio fees of more tha 2,765, the value of the full maiteace grat i , must offer additioal fiacial help i the form of bursaries. Studets eligible to receive a full maiteace grat must be offered a bursary or other help that will at least make up the differece betwee the full maiteace grat ad the tuitio fee rate Istitutios are required to determie what proportio of their additioal tuitio fee icome they pla to sped o bursaries to support studets from low icome families. I the first year of the ew tuitio fee icome regime ( ), istitutios spet a total of 96 millio (21 per cet) of the total additioal fee icome o bursaries, although the proportio varied cosiderably by istitutio; out of 120 istitutios which offered bursaries, 18 allocated over 30 per cet to bursaries, ad 32 allocated less tha 15 per cet (Figure 13). Additioally, 103 istitutios chose to use part of their tuitio fee icome to support additioal outreach activities i schools or commuities, at a average cost of 200,000 per istitutio, amoutig to 21 millio i total. There was o requiremet for istitutios to use tuitio fee icome to fud outreach activities ad the Office for Fair Access regards this as a idicatio of istitutios commitmet to wideig participatio The value of bursaries for studets receivig full maiteace grats i varies across istitutios, from the statutory miimum of 310 to a maximum of 3,150 (Appedix 2, Figure 17). They are geerally allocated o the basis of family icome. Some istitutios have chose to pay a flat rate to all studets regardless of meas, while others have also used some of their tuitio fee icome to pay bursaries or scholarships accordig to academic merit. I geeral, post-1992 istitutios which ted to have more studets from low icome families who are eligible, pay smaller bursaries to idividual studets tha either Russell Group or other pre-1992 istitutios. O average, the lower the performace of a istitutio i relatio to its bechmark for participatio of youg BOX 17 A scheme to provide a alterative pathway ito veteriary medicie The Royal Veteriary College developed the Veteriary Gateway Course i 2005 as a oe year preparatory course, also kow as a foudatio year. It is a iitiative by the Royal Veteriary College, supported by the Faculty of Veteriary Sciece at the Uiversity of Liverpool ad the School of Veteriary Sciece at the Uiversity of Bristol. To joi the programme, studets must be eligible for full maiteace grat, with o paretal experiece of higher educatio ad must atted a o-selective state school. The tutors look for evidece of potetial, with B grades i maths, Eglish ad sciece at GCSE ad predicted C grades or above at A level. They also have to demostrate some experiece ad iterest i workig with aimals. Followig a successful iterview, they start a foudatio year with smaller class sizes ad a differet learig eviromet from the Bachelor s course. O completio, they progress to the first year of the Bachelor s course. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Royal Veteriary College 13 Percetage of tuitio fee icome distributed as bursaries Istitutios allocate varyig proportios of their additioal icome from tuitio fees to support studets Percetage less tha or more Number of istitutios Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of Office for Fair Access data 34 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

37 part three studets from lower socio-ecoomic backgrouds, the greater its bursary (Figure 14). This reflects the higher proportio of post-1992 istitutios that perform better tha their bechmarks, but may also suggest that some istitutios are usig higher bursaries to attract studets from lower icome backgrouds. There is, however, o evidece at preset that the rage of bursaries o offer has iflueced studets choice of istitutio. 44, 45 Take-up of bursaries 3.21 I the first year of bursaries, the majority (64 per cet) of istitutios distributed less tha they aticipated o bursaries. I total, 96 millio was distributed as bursaries compared with a estimated 115 millio. The Office for Fair Access believes that this is pricipally because istitutios over-estimated the umbers of studets that would be eligible to take-up bursaries, ad as may as 12,000 studets eterig higher educatio i 2006 o full state support failed to collect a bursary 46 despite meetig the ecessary criteria The Studet Loas Compay foud that aroud oe-third of studets eterig higher educatio i 2007 did ot give their coset to share family icome iformatio, icluded i the applicatio for statutory 14 Average value of bursaries i 2008 for istitutios performig above, at ad below bechmark for participatio by social class i O average, better performig istitutios offer smaller bursaries, but idividual variatio is much greater. Istitutio performace Average Number of i bursary istitutios ( ) Below bechmark At bechmark Above bechmark Source: Natioal Audit Office aalysis of Office for Fair Access data Note Excludes istitutios for which bursary value or performace iformatio are ot available. studet support, with the istitutio to which they applied. This would have eabled automatic idetificatio ad paymet to applicats from low icome families. 47 The Studet Loas Compay surveyed those studets i receipt of the full maiteace grat who did ot give their coset ad foud 75 per cet said the reaso was lack of uderstadig or awareess of bursaries. The Studet Loas Compay is improvig the loa applicatio form with clearer laguage aroud the implicatios of ot givig coset to share data, which will chage from a opt-i to a opt-out from Workig with schools ad colleges 3.23 The Departmet is promotig stregtheed liks betwee higher educatio, schools ad colleges to raise attaimet ad aspiratios towards higher educatio. From our survey of teachers we foud that may teachers appreciate istitutios work, but a large umber also thik that it could be improved. Some 40 per cet of teachers thought that isufficiet support was give by uiversities ad further educatio colleges to idetify ad support studets for etry to higher educatio. Closer liks betwee schools ad higher educatio istitutios was the secod most commo suggestio for icreasig the chaces of studets eterig higher educatio I its Educatio Skills White Paper (2005) the Departmet for Educatio ad Skills aouced a post 16 progressio measure as a way of recogisig schools for supportig their studets to make good post 16 choices. Progressio iformatio will be published i the School Profile from summer The Natioal Coucil for Educatioal Excellece is lookig at ways to develop greater levels of egagemet betwee higher educatio ad schools ad colleges ad how to ecourage more applicatios to higher educatio from secodary schools i disadvataged areas. 48 The Fudig Coucil suggests prioritisig parterships with schools located i areas with low participatio. These iitiatives aim to icrease participatio but it is too early to say if they icrease the progressio ito higher educatio ad what impact they have o the participatio of uder-represeted groups i higher educatio. Wideig participatio i higher educatio 35

38 part three Higher educatio provisio by colleges 3.25 More tha oe third of etrats to higher educatio have atteded a further educatio college, ad colleges teach oe i eight of the udergraduate populatio. 49 As providers, they either develop their ow directly fuded higher educatio courses ad deliver higher level qualificatios (for example Higher Natioal Diplomas or Certificates) or develop ad deliver courses frachised from ad validated by a higher educatio istitutio. I : the Fudig Coucil is directly fudig higher educatio courses at 143 further educatio colleges; aroud 260 further educatio colleges are beig fuded idirectly through parterships with oe or more uiversity or through fudig cosortia; ad the Learig ad Skills Coucil is also fudig higher educatio courses at further educatio colleges, for example Natioal Vocatioal Qualificatios ad professioal body qualificatios The Departmet foud that further educatio is particularly effective i providig higher educatio for learers from disadvataged groups, backgrouds ad commuities. 51 May further educatio colleges offer flexible, local opportuities which make higher educatio accessible to people who might otherwise face sigificat barriers to participatio. Uiversity staff we iterviewed regarded higher educatio delivered by further educatio colleges as essetial to wideig participatio ad we foud examples of successful parterships (Box 18). Seior maagemet support for wideig participatio 3.27 We foud strog seior maagemet support for wideig participatio at the istitutios we visited, with resposibility usually vested i a pro-vice Chacellor supported by specialist staff. The majority of istitutios recogised wideig participatio objectives explicitly i their missio statemets or high-level strategies. 52 Some istitutios regard wideig participatio as iheret to the culture of the orgaisatio ad recogise it i the appraisal of staff performace. The Fudig Coucil recogises the eed to reiforce ad urture this commitmet ad sees it as essetial to wideig participatio The istitutios we visited believe they sped more o wideig participatio tha the Fudig Coucil grat that is allocated o the basis of wideig participatio criteria. Geerally, some or all of the grat is retaied cetrally for core activities, but some istitutios devolve part of their wideig participatio budget to faculties for subject-specific projects. Outside of the cetral activities, istitutios do ot record how much staff time ad other costs are expeded o wideig participatiorelated work. BOX 18 Examples of successful higher/further educatio workig The Uiversity of Lacaster validates higher educatio degrees at the East Lacashire Istitute for Higher Educatio. Blackbur College delivers higher educatio via the East Lacashire Istitute for Higher Educatio which is a associate college to Lacaster Uiversity. They are directly fuded by the Fudig Coucil to deliver higher educatio courses which are accredited by Lacaster Uiversity. Studets study courses o the Blackbur site, receivig qualificatios from Lacaster. The college provides: a ladder of progressio whereby studets ca study from age 16 to Masters level withi the college if they choose, ad adult access course learers ca cotiue to study o site; employer iput demad-led developmet of curriculum ivolvig professioal bodies; bite-sized provisio ad credit accumulatio allowig for structured exit poits; ad itegrated careers advice sessios. The Uiversity of Worcester has a log-stadig partership with Pershore College (ow part of Warwickshire College). They coduct joit-markig of courses to provide cofidece i the quality of provisio. The partership provides flexibility to allow studets o Higher Natioal Diplomas to top up to Bachelor of Sciece. The Uiversity of Greewich udertakes a joit local clearig exercise with its parter colleges. I this way, a applicat s chace of gettig ito a local higher educatio istitutio is maximised. Source: Natioal Audit Office fieldwork: Uiversity of Lacaster, Uiversity of Worcester ad Uiversity of Greewich 36 Wideig participatio i higher educatio

39 PART FOuR Addressig the barriers to wideig participatio 4.1 This part examies barriers to participatio i higher educatio. It evaluates: iformatio, advice ad guidace; ad fiacial support to studets from loas ad grats. Iformatio, advice ad guidace 4.2 Iformatio, advice ad guidace eable studets to make iformed decisios about their future. It is importat ot oly at key decisio poits but as part of broader ecouragemet ad guidace about progressio to higher educatio. How it is commuicated is as importat as what is commuicated Cocer over the availability ad quality of advice o progressio routes ito higher educatio ad careers optios, both to youg people i schools ad colleges ad to adults cosiderig cotiuig educatio, was a recurret theme from our case studies. People we spoke with perceived careers advice services to be of variable quality, lackig i oe-to-oe advice ad focused o those i dager of disegagemet from educatio. There is a strog perceptio that advice ad guidace ca be based o teachers ad lecturers outdated uderstadig of the qualificatio routes ito higher educatio, ad fail to recogise the rage of vocatioal optios ad progressio routes ow available. Similarly, may teachers ad lecturers have perceptios of higher educatio based o their ow experieces, ad cosequetly may ot always be supportive of youg people s aspiratios for higher educatio. Poor quality advice ad guidace may result i people udertakig iappropriate GCSE or A Level or equivalet qualificatios for the higher educatio courses ad careers to which they hope to progress. 4.4 I our survey of uplaced UCAS applicats we asked about the adequacy of iformatio, advice ad guidace (Box 19 overleaf). The survey idetified similar fidigs to the Futuretrack project, a survey of 2006 applicats for full-time, UK higher educatio courses which ivestigated the attitudes ad values of applicats, icludig those who were ot accepted or chose ot to accept a place. 55 We foud that: Aroud half of respodets were dissatisfied with the iformatio, advice ad guidace they received from their school or college before applyig. Respodets who received sufficiet iformatio, advice ad guidace were more likely to re-apply to higher educatio the followig year. Of these, may say that they have ow had more or better advice about the process ad what istitutios are lookig for, are improvig their qualificatios, or have doe more research ad chaged their plas. 4.5 The Departmet s review of careers educatio ad guidace for 11 to 19 year olds ackowledged serious weakesses i the system. 56 The subsequet Youth Matters Gree Paper ad Youth Matters: Next Steps put forward ways to improve iformatio, advice ad guidace services. Sice April 2008 resposibility ad fudig for commissioig iformatio, advice ad guidace services for youg people has bee the resposibility of Local Authorities. Childre s Trusts, schools, colleges ad other learig providers are expected to work together ad agree ew arragemets for deliverig services. The services should target all groups that require timely ad high quality iformatio, advice ad guidace. The Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families published a set of Quality Stadards for youg people s iformatio, advice ad guidace i April 2007, ad i October 2007 CEGNET (the website of the Departmet for Childre, Schools ad Families careers educatio support programme) published guidace for practitioers o the applicatio of the ew stadards. WIDENING PARTIcIPATION IN HIGHER EDucATION 37