EPI’s Ieuan Bennett looks at the latest figures on access to university.
Widening participation, defined by the Office for Fair Access as ‘Removing the barriers to higher education, including financial barriers, that students from lower income and other under-represented backgrounds face,’ is a key part of the government’s agenda.[1] Since 2004, universities which wish to charge above the basic fee level have had to provide detail of their widening participation activities and progress towards individual targets as part of their access agreements.[2]
New data released by the Department for Education on Thursday show trends in widening participation for the cohort of young people who were aged 19 in the 2014-15 academic year.
The latest statistical release continues to show that a smaller proportion of pupils who received free school meals (a proxy for economic disadvantage) are progressing to university than those who did not receive free school meals (24% and 41% respectively). Whilst more of these disadvantaged pupils are progressing to university (an increase of 9 percentage points since 2007-08), similar increases were also seen overall for the rest of the cohort.
As such the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has remained largely unchanged since 2007-08. To put it another way, disadvantaged pupils’ progression to university is as far behind that of their more affluent peers as it was 7 years ago.
National figures also mask large regional variations. Disadvantaged pupils from Inner London are actually more likely to progress to university than more affluent pupils outside of London (but not Outer London). 45% of disadvantaged pupils in Inner London progressed to higher education, whereas the highest figure for more affluent pupils outside of London was just 41%, in the West Midlands, with the lowest being 37% in the South West. The regional differences can also be seen in the gaps within each region – with Inner London also having the smallest gap between the progression of disadvantaged and other pupils of 8 percentage points against 24 percentage points in the South East and North East.
Differences also remain between the progression rates in the independent and state sectors (of pupils taking A levels or equivalent qualifications). 63% of state school A level pupils progressed to higher education, whilst 85% of equivalent pupils in the independent sector did so, leaving a gap of 22 percentage points.[3] The data show that this gap has widened significantly, as it was only 12 percentage points for the 2008-09 cohort. Moreover, the proportion of state school educated pupils entering higher education has actually decreased in this time from 70%.
Further cause for concern is the persistently high gap in the progression rates to the most selective higher education providers – those universities requiring the highest grades. 65% of A level pupils educated in the independent sector progressed to the most selective higher education providers against only 23% of state school pupils. And this gap also appears to be widening, by 3 percentage points in the last 4 years. Moreover, the proportion of A level pupils entering higher education from state schools has decreased by 2 percentage points since 2008-09.
The Office for Fair Access has highlighted an increase in total investment in widening participation by universities from £842.1 million in 2014-15 to £883.5 million in 2015-16.[4] Whilst this increase in spending is welcome, the progression data suggest that the funds are not being targeted equally across the country. The recent EPI report Closing the Gap? shows that the disadvantage gap in schools is generally smaller in London; the data on widening participation imply that the same is true for progression to higher education.[5] This could be an indication of a focus of resources on the capital which has more universities, including most selective institutions, than other regions of the country.[6]
In her recent speech at the launch of the Social Mobility Employer Index, Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening spoke of the importance of access to university for disadvantaged children.[7] She was correct in saying that a higher proportion of disadvantaged students are progressing to higher education. However, given that these disadvantaged pupils are still not catching up with their more affluent peers, and state school pupils are falling further behind independent school pupils, there is little evidence of real progress.
[1] Office for Fair Access, 2017, ‘Glossary’.
[2] Higher Education Act 2004, Chapter 8.
[3] Including pupils taking A-level equivalent qualifications. Figures on progression rates for only pupil taking A levels are available, but are not considered here.
[4] Office for Fair Access, 2017, ‘Outcomes of access agreement monitoring for 2015-16’, p. 6.
[5] Andrews, J., Hutchinson, J., and Robinson, D., 2017, ‘Closing the Gap? Trends in Educational Attainment and Disadvantage’, p. 6.
[6] Of the 153 higher education providers included in the Department for Education analysis, 22% (33) are based in London. Of the 51 most selective higher education providers, 31% (16) are in London. This list includes higher education providers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.; Department for Education, 2017, ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, England, 2014/15 age cohort Technical Note’, p. 7.
[7] Greening, J., 2017, ‘Justine Greening speaks a Social Mobility Employer Index launch’, Department for Education.
