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Circular letter number 21/2004
For further information contact
Kevin Whitston, tel 0117 931 7013, e-mail k.whitston@hefce.ac.uk,
or Matthew King, tel 0117 931 7367, e-mail m.king@hefce.ac.uk
Dear Vice-Chancellor or Principal
Institutional widening participation strategies and working with institutions to widen participation
1. I am writing to inform you of the outcomes of the recent HEFCE Board discussion on institutional widening participation strategies and the Council's approach to working with institutions to embed widening participation.
2. Since 2001 institutions have provided widening participation strategies and action plans to HEFCE, and from 2002 these have been required as a condition of grant. We were due to call for new strategies in July 2004, but this was put on hold because the Government was developing its policies for an Office for Fair Access (OFFA) and for the access agreements that OFFA would require. In April 2004 we therefore asked institutions to complete their annual monitoring statement (AMS) for 2004-05 on the basis of existing strategies and updated targets.
3. We continue to believe that widening participation strategies are a useful way for institutions to draw together different strands of activity contributing to wider access. We will encourage institutions to renew these strategies for their own purposes, and to share them with us. However, we are conscious that institutions choosing to charge variable fees will need to submit an access agreement to OFFA, and we accept that they should not have to deal with two closely-related demands from OFFA and from HEFCE. Therefore, we will no longer require widening participation strategies as a condition of grant. We note that OFFA guidance recommends institutions to incorporate access agreements as part of a widening participation strategy, and we believe that this is the best solution.
4. Some institutions may choose not to vary fees and will not, therefore, be required to submit an access agreement. We do not propose to put in place any separate reporting requirements for such institutions at this stage. Such institutions are likely to have a relatively strong widening participation record, and we can review this in the light of experience. We can ask for additional information from institutions at any time where there are concerns about the effective use of funding, but we will exercise this right only if there is cause for concern.
5. We are currently reviewing our system for monitoring the use of special funds through the AMS. As part of that review, we will consider how we can best balance our need to understand how widening participation funds are being used, with our objective of minimising the burden on institutions wherever possible. We will ask for comment on the revised arrangements for the AMS in January 2005.
6. Widening participation is one of HEFCE's four core strategic aims, and an influential component of policy development in all areas. We will seek to ensure that widening participation is identified as a key element of the corporate plans that HEIs will submit in 2005-06. We recognise that the higher education environment will be less certain in the period leading up to, and following, the introduction of variable fees. Therefore it will be important for us to engage in a dialogue with institutions about how to take forward widening participation. As part of that, we will be arranging a series of seminars in 2005 to discuss ways of taking forward policy and practice in this area.
7. A discussion paper for the seminars, entitled 'Working with institutions to widen participation', is available on the HEFCE web-site. In this paper we set out some preliminary thinking about embedding widening participation in the new environment. As the dialogue develops, we will identify good practice to share with the sector and to support the most promising new initiatives.
Yours sincerely
John Rushforth
Director, Widening Participation
Last updated 15 December 2004