POLAR3 – Updated young participation classification

POLAR3 is an updated classification of small areas that forms part of our continuing programme to analyse young participation rates in higher education (HE).

About POLAR 3

We have published this to help those who use young participation area classifications to inform targeting and analysis of widening participation activities.

We use the POLAR classification to calculate our widening participation funding allocations, with POLAR3 to be used for the 2013/14 allocations onwards, while the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) uses it to measure institutional performance.

The first version of the POLAR small area classification was based on young participation rates from the late 1990s. An updated version, POLAR2, was based on the participation rates of young people from 2000 to 2004.

Summary of the POLAR3 methodology

POLAR3 is based on the HE participation rates of people who were aged 18 between 2005 and 2009 and entered a HE course in a UK higher education institution or English or Scottish further education college, aged 18 or 19, between academic years 2005-06 and 2010-11.

It draws on data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Data Service, the Scottish Funding Council, UCAS and HM Revenue and Customs. The method used to get the participation rates is broadly similar to the method for POLAR2.

But there are some noteworthy differences. The set of cohorts used to form the classification are more recent. Also information of entrants to HE courses at further education colleges in Wales are not included, though we estimate that this only has a small impact on the classification.

The POLAR3 classification is formed by ranking 2001 Census Area Statistics (CAS) wards by their young participation rates for the combined 2005 to 2009 cohorts. This gives five quintile groups of areas ordered from ‘1’ (those wards with the lowest participation) to ‘5’ (those wards with the highest participation), each representing 20 per cent of UK young cohort.

Classification by HE-qualified adults

With the POLAR3 classification we have also published a separate classification based on the proportion of HE-qualified adults in an area. We use this classification in the funding method for widening participation.

In this case 2001 Census Area Statistics wards are ranked by the proportion of people aged 16-74 reported as holding a HE qualification in the 2001 Census (Key Statistics Table 13). Like POLAR3, this classification is reported as five quintiles - each representing 20 per cent of the adult population - from '1' (those areas with the lowest proportions of HE-qualified adults) to '5' (those areas with the highest proportions of HE-qualified adults).

Although not part of the new young participation results, we have included this classification in these files to support its use in the funding allocations.

Future work and updates

We will extend the resources available here over time. We plan to broaden the range of maps available for download to include other administrative geographies, and to make them more interactive (for example by integrating them with Google maps).

We also hope to provide further datasets which show numbers of HE entrants and young population estimates at different geographies.

When the 2011 census geography becomes publicly available we hope to update the geography at which the POLAR3 classification is reported. The release of 2011 census data on HE level qualifications will mean that the HE-qualified adult classification can be updated accordingly.

We continue to research young HE participation and develop our understanding of the patterns of young participation. Planned future work includes updating the national trends in young participation as reported in 'Trends in young participation in higher education' (HEFCE 2010/03). We will also extend this work to look more closely at trends at a more local level.