Widening Access to Higher Education
A Report by the HEFCE's Advisory Group on Access and Participation
Reference M 9/96
April 1996
The electronic version of this report contains the contents and Executive Summary only. The complete printed report is available from the HEFCE price £5.00.
Contents
Executive Summary
- I. Background
- Introduction
- Context
- II. The Current Situation
- The HE student profile
- Qualifications of entrants
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Disability
- Socio-economic group
- Part-time
- Institutional dimension
- Summary
- Sector activity
- Strategies and policies
- Practices and approaches to widening access
- Diversity or convergence
- HE in FE Colleges
- HEFCE funding policies
- Core and margin funding
- Non-formula funding (special initiatives)
- Continuing education
- Inherited programmes (AIRs and Flexible Course Provision)
- Changing the Process of Teaching and Learning
- Conclusion
- Consolidation
- Summary
- III. Future Considerations
- Future developments
- Structure
- Funding mechanisms
- Further research
Annexes
Bibliography
Executive Summary
Introduction
1. This report to the HEFCE Board by its Advisory Group on Access and Participation describes the extent to which wider access to HE has been achieved. Access is defined as the widening of opportunity for students from non-traditional backgrounds and under-represented groups to participate in higher education. In particular, the report describes the profile of the current HE student population, the nature of policies and approaches adopted by institutions to widen access to HE and the effectiveness of related Council policies.
The HE Student Population
2. The recent period of student expansion in HE has created a diverse student population. In particular:
a. While A-levels continue to be the main entry qualification for HE, a significant number of students enter without A-levels. The growth in the take-up of GNVQs is likely to provide an increasingly important entry route to HE for many students.
b. More people are going into HE later in life: over a third of undergraduate entrants are over 21 years.
c. Ethnic minorities are now well represented in HE, although there continues to be under-representation in some groups and an uneven distribution of ethnic minority students across types of HE institution.
d. Part-time higher education is an important part of HE in general, contributing to wider access in particular. It is increasing in terms of size and scope.
3. The above picture suggests that questions about under-representation are no longer of central concern. However, there are two areas where under-representation prevails:
a. The position of social class is not fully known because of shortcomings in the data available, but it is clear that the professional and managerial classes continue to be overwhelmingly represented in HE. However, the question of increasing the participation of students from social groups III to V may not be one which the HE sector can address because it requires action at an earlier stage of the educational process.
b. Students with disabilities make up a very small proportion of HE student numbers. Some disabilities appear to be more under-represented than others, which might reflect the nature of the resourcing and support required and the severity of the disability. The Council's initiatives in this area have proved successful but further action may be required.
Sector activity
4. The student population is unevenly distributed across different types of institution. In particular, a broader student profile exists in the new universities and colleges of HE than in the old universities. It would seem that institutions with clearly defined strategic access policies have significantly contributed to increasing participation by non-traditional groups, often such policies are characterised by an open approach to widening opportunity through direct action (specific admissions policies and partnerships with FE colleges, employers and particular communities) and indirect action (modularisation, semesterisation and open learning).
5. To some extent, and in some institutions, access policies relate to the appropriateness and quality of the HE experience for non-traditional students. This question is of increasing interest now that both the participation and representation of non-traditional groups have improved.
Council funding
6. The Council's approach to increasing opportunities and widening participation in HE has been broad ranging. It has combined a primarily market-oriented approach in its core and margin funding (which has enabled institutions to implement 'open' policies), with a proactive approach in its non-formula funding whereby a range of effective initiatives and programmes have influenced the nature of the student body and institutional responses to the changing nature of that body.
7. So far, this combination of funding strategies has been appropriate. It has enabled institutions to determine and deliver access-oriented missions using mainstream grant while influencing behaviour and responding to need through a range of focused programmes which have tended to be developmental and limited in funding. There have, however, been a number of problems with funding one-year initiatives.
8. Research into the impact of consolidation in student numbers on the access policies and practices of institutions concluded that there was no intended adverse effect. However, the study recognised that any effects are likely to be highly institution-specific rather than generalised. For example, some institutions may actively seek non-traditional recruits, mature students in particular, to reduce the uncertainty of a volatile A-level market. Others better placed in the A-level market may concentrate on A-level students with high grades to reduce unpredictability. The study noted that consolidation in student numbers in a funding environment of increasing efficiency gains, had led some institutions to take stock of the resource implications of providing for non-traditional students. Some see them as being more expensive to provide for than traditional students, despite the lack of evidence for this). However, there was no evidence that any institution was explicitly retreating from its access mission.
9. The recent budget settlement for HE may precipitate detailed reviews in institutions of the costs involved in providing for a broad range of student backgrounds. Any retreat from the recent successes in this area may require the Council's access-related objectives to be given greater weight in its approach to funding.
Future considerations
10. The desire and ability of HEIs to continue with proactive policies to widen access to HE will be strengthened when a number of policy matters are resolved. In particular:
a. There is an apparent discontinuity between limiting student growth and HE funding on the one hand, and encouraging lifelong learning through national targets on the other. National priorities, and related funding, are needed for the number of traditional students, 'second chancers' and 'second timers' to be encouraged to participate in HE.
b. How the HE system is to be funded in the future is of central significance. The widening gap between the expressed need to continue expanding HE (as outlined in statements, by among others, the CVCP, CBI, Royal Society, and the National Commission on Education) and the resources available has led to a debate about the funding of HE, including the possibility of students themselves contributing to its cost.
11. The Group recognises that these issues are primarily for others to resolve, in particular through Sir Ron Dearing's forthcoming review of higher education. Nevertheless, the Council will need to consider how, in a diverse sector, it might maintain and enhance the sector's achievements in creating wider access to HE, in particular by explicitly recognising access-related missions in its funding of HE institutions. In addressing this question, the Group recommends that the Council should consider how to pursue its access-related policy objectives within the current review of its funding method for teaching.
Research
12. The Group identified a number of matters which the Council and others may need to investigate further:
a. The increasing diversity in patterns of study, in particular the extent to which differences between full-time and part-time study are breaking down, and the nature and range of study patterns, including part-time and distance learning.
b. How particular HE provision - for example, flexible and open learning, modularity, academic and welfare support - relates to the quality of HE experience for non-traditional students.
c. The rates of return, for both the individual and the state, arising from an increase in the number of non-traditional students entering HE.
d. The underlying factors affecting the nature of the socio-economic make-up of entrants to HE, and future trends.
Enquiries
13. Enquiries about this report should be addressed to: Cliff Allan
HEFCE
Northavon House
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QD