Quality and Access: a zero-sum game Peter Scott Commissioner for Fair Access

Plan of presentation Introductory remarks Expansion, access & quality Historical patterns Defining ‘success’ New landscapes of ‘quality’ My role as Commissioner for Fair Access Conclusion & reflections

Quality & standards in a mass system Ten-fold expansion in student numbers since 1960s Participation explosion (UK: < 10% - 50%, South Korea: 80%) A new system: more than half of UK universities established since 1960 Drop-out rates still low (by international standards) Higher proportion of ‘good’ degrees (grade inflation?) Rapid growth in ‘graduate’ jobs in knowledge economy – but graduate under-employment?

Future prospects… Correlation between entry grades, continuation rates, attainment levels… …but students on access pathways perform well (with right support) Socio-economic & cultural barriers as significant as academic ‘deficits’ Scalability of access pathways Fitting ‘non-standard’ students into ‘standard’ systems

Definitions of ‘success’ CONTINUATION: low wastage rates (too low?), ‘drop-out’ >> ‘stop-out’, more flexible study patterns ATTAINMENT: rising proportion of ‘good’ degrees…but dominance of ‘performance’ culture / other outcomes of HE EMPLOYMENT: volatility / permeability of graduate’ and ‘non-graduate’ jobs, cognitive demands & occupational hierarchies, post-industrial (& post-professional?) workforce

Changing ‘quality’ landscapes Policy / practice & management shifts – but also new intellectual landscapes New challenges: internal evolution of disciplines, new subjects, growth of interdisciplinary courses… Going beyond the two Ps (peer review & process) Different paths to knowledge: academic – experiential, limitations of ‘academic apparatus’?

Commissioner for Fair Access Proliferation of ‘Tsars’ ‘Agitator’ not regulator Establishing a presence: Visits Talks Briefings (applications, contextual admissions…) Annual report

Contextual admissions Not new: universities have always varied entry requirements Greater transparency / readability Bolder use of adjusted offers >> access thresholds… Developing academic rationales not just meeting access targets Re-thinking continuation / attainment expectations?

Articulation - HNs >> degrees Half of HN students receive no credit - unfair to students, wasteful to taxpayers ‘Innocent until proved guilty’ (full, i.e. 2 year, credit as starting point) Differences in ‘learning cultures’ between HNs & degrees? Imbalance of articulation (post-1992 universities) Wider bias against professional / vocational higher education?

Access & outreach Scale up - need for increased volume (craft industry >>> mass production?) Join up - improving transferability of experiences Evaluating effectiveness / spreading good practice [Framework for Fair Access}

Conclusions – two lessons… ACCESS & QUALITY: limitations of fitting ‘non-standard’ students into ‘standard’ systems, impacts of social & intellectual change, re-thinking ’success’ & ‘quality’ FAIR ACCESS(1) using skills of all the people; (2) civic / human rights; (3) preserving democracy in an age of ‘populism’ (Trump, Brexit, fundamentalism…)