Press Release - Widening participation in higher education in
England and Improving student achievement in English higher
education
18 January 2002
Student achievement rates in English higher education
institutions have remained high during a period of considerable
expansion of student numbers, although rates vary widely between
institutions. The higher education sector will have to recruit and
retain more students from hitherto poorly represented social groups
and help them to succeed if the government’s learning targets are
to be met.
Those are the principal findings of two reports into higher
education presented today to Parliament by Sir John Bourn, the head
of the National Audit Office. One covers widening participation,
the other concerning the improvement of student achievement.
Widening participation in higher education in
England
Women and ethnic minorities are well represented but
participation levels are still low for people with disabilities and
those from poorer social classes. Thus an 18 year old with a
disability or other health problem is only 40 per cent as likely to
enter higher education as an 18 year old without a disability or
other health problem. And poorer social classes have significantly
lower participation rates than others, occupying the same low share
of places on courses in 1999-00 as they did six years
previously.
The Department for Education and Skills, the Higher Education
Funding Council for England, universities and colleges are taking
steps to remove the obstacles to participation by people from the
groups with low representation. These obstacles include early loss
of interest in education; poorer educational opportunities before
applying to higher education; concerns about the benefits of taking
part; and difficulties in securing financial support. There is
scope to widen participation further by developing existing good
practice.
The DfES and the Funding Council are allocating over £200
million in the current academic year to institutions and students
to support widening participation. Whether these funds are targeted
appropriately is a matter of concern: systematic information on the
costs of institutions’ widening participation activities is not
currently available, and the system of discretionary funding for
poorer students is over complex and creates uncertainty for those
students. The Department and the Funding Council have work in
progress to address some of these problems.
According to the NAO, there is widespread activity by
institutions to raise aspirations in groups with low representation
but much less to ensure that their applications have a fair chance
of succeeding. Applicants from poorer social classes are less
likely than others to succeed in converting their applications to
accepted offers. They and applicants with disabilities have
particularly low success rates in applications to study medicine,
dentistry and veterinary science. Their participation rates in
these subjects are also low. Some institutions have low
participation by these groups because they do not attract many
applications from them, while the problem for other institutions is
the high failure rate of applications from these groups.
Improving student achievement in the English higher
education sector
Achievement rates of students in higher education have remained
steady at the high level of 77 per cent despite a considerable
increase in student numbers. Achievement rates vary, however,
between 98 per cent and 48 per cent. The Funding Council’s
performance indicators show that of all full-time first degree
entrants, some 90 per cent continue into their second year, and
over three quarters will go on to obtain their degree at the same
institution at which they started. A further six per cent will
either transfer to another institution or obtain a different
qualification. However, some 16 per cent of students still fail to
get a qualification.
According to the NAO, students who withdraw tend to have lower
prior academic qualifications. Most of them cite personal reasons
(feeling unprepared for higher education, changing personal
circumstances or financial matters) or withdraw because of academic
failure. Highly vocational courses tend to lose fewest students
while mathematics, computer sciences and engineering lose most.
Although there are wide variations in continuation and achievement
rates between different institutions, most perform close to the
Funding Council’s benchmark.
Sir John’s reports to Parliament identify a number of good
practices and make recommendations to the Funding Council and
institutions on how to improve participation and achievement and
graduate employability. These cover ensuring that funding to
institutions and students reflects widening participation
objectives; monitoring applications and selection procedures to
identify groups that need encouragement to apply and to ensure that
applicants from groups with low representation receive fair
treatment relative to others; and developing principles of good
practice in selection strategies and admissions staff training,
including taking account of applicants’ backgrounds and
circumstances to help identify those most able to succeed.
Higher education institutions should also be helping students to
choose the right course, for example, through the provision of
comprehensive information especially for all prospective students
but also particularly for those applying through "clearing".
Information should include graduates’ destinations and employment.
Institutions should also identify the students who may benefit most
from extra academic support; further develop rewards for staff who
are innovative and effective in their teaching; promote wider
access to careers services to help students identify suitable
employment after graduation and use job shops or similar schemes to
work alongside the careers departments to help students wishing to
work part-time during their studies, to identify work compatible
with their longer-term career objectives.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"More people than ever before are attending higher
education institutions in England and achievement rates in higher
education in England compare very favourably to other countries.
There must not be any complacency, however. If we are to encourage
wider participation and work towards meeting the national learning
targets while at the same time maintaining academic standards, then
it is all the more important to match students to the right courses
and support them through to qualification."
Notes for Editors
Higher education covers all study above A-levels and their
equivalents. It includes Higher National Certificates and Diplomas,
foundation degrees, degrees and postgraduate courses. There are 131
higher education institutions including universities and higher
education colleges or specialist institutes and there are higher
education courses at some further education colleges. There are
almost 1.7 million students in the sector almost half of whom
are studying for a first degree. A quarter of all UK domiciled
undergraduates are studying for sub-degree qualifications, most of
them part-time.
The Department for Education and Employment is responsible for
determining the overall policy for higher education and the Higher
Education Funding Council for England distributes amongst
institutions, some £3.2 billion for teaching and a further
£0.9 billion for research.
The National Learning Targets represent the Government’s aim of
making a substantial improvement in participation and achievement
in education and training at every level:
The National Learning Targets for
2002
| Group |
| 19-year olds with "Level 2" (5 GCSEs at A*-C, an
NVQ level 2, intermediate GNVQ or equivalent) |
73.9% |
75.3% |
85% |
| 21-year olds with "Level 3" (2 A-levels, an NVQ
level 3, an Advanced GNVQ or the equivalent) |
52.2% |
53.7% |
60% |
| Adults with "Level 3" (as above) |
45.1% |
47.2% |
50% |
| Adults with "Level 4" (NVQ level 4, i.e. having a
degree or a higher level vocational qualification) |
26.1% |
27.5% |
28% |
| Learning participation target - reduction in
non-learners |
26% of population not in learning |
Data not yet available |
24% of population not in learning |
| |
Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the head
of the National Audit Office employing some 750 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 03/01
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