Professor Les Ebdon CBE Director of Fair Access to Higher Education

Government’s “BME 2020 Challenge” With the aim of improving labour market outcomes for people from BME backgrounds, Ministers from across government have been charged with: increasing BME employment by 20% by 2020 increasing the number of BME students going to university by 20% increasing the proportion of apprenticeships taken up by people from BME backgrounds by 20% ensuring that 20,000 start-up loans are awarded to BME applicants by 2020 increasing the diversity of the armed forces increasing the diversity of police recruitment .

Access to Higher Education Entry rates for English 18 year old state school pupils by ethnic group . UCAS End of Cycle Report 2015 Large differences in entry rates by ethnic group Students recorded as being in the Chinese ethnic group have the highest entry rate (58 per cent in 2015) Those recorded in the White ethnic group had the lowest (28 per cent in 2015). The entry rates for all ethnic groups increased in 2015, reaching the highest recorded values for each group. Young people recorded in the Black ethnic group have the largest increase in entry rates over the period, increasing from 20.9 per cent in 2006 to 36.7 per cent in 2015, a proportional increase of 75 per cent. Since 2008 the White ethnic group have had the lowest entry rate of all ethnic groups. In 2015, the difference between the entry rate for the White ethnic group and the other ethnic groups increased further, as the entry rate for the White ethnic group increased at a slower rate than the other ethnic groups. Since 2006 the entry rate for the White group has increased from 21.7 per cent to 27.8 per cent in 2015, a proportional increase of 28 per cent. Latest UCAS reports for the first time provide data on individual universities about applications and offer-making by sex, area background and ethnic group. Publishing this data is a real step forward for widening access - it increases transparency, and helps universities to evaluate what they do so they can get to the heart of what has most impact. Some universities will clearly be very challenged by this data, and I expect them to work hard to understand the discrepancies between applications and offers made for certain groups. I do not accept that an applicant’s ethnicity or where they come from should be a barrier to attending university. Source: UCAS End of Cycle Report 2015

Student success and progression Retention rates are lower for all ethnic groups (apart from students of Chinese ethnicity) than their white peers There are also significant differences in degree outcomes .

Differences in outcomes by ethnicity Percentage point difference of the outcome from the sector-adjusted average, split by ethnicity . Source: HEFCE 2013/14, Higher education and beyond: Outcomes from full-time first degree study

First-degree undergraduates receiving a first/2:1 by ethnic group . Source: Equalities Challenge Unit Equality in higher education: statistical report 2014

Students from BME backgrounds report lower levels of satisfaction Least satisfied Most satisfied . Source: 2016 HEPI-HEA Student Academic Experience Survey

Race and ethnicity in access agreements Two fifths of institutions have specific targets relating to BME students 16 per cent of access agreements have specific targets for raising BME attainment. Data is from the 2016/17 Access Agreement outcomes report

What more can be done? Scale-up outreach activity Develop inclusive curriculums Increase transparency More cross-government working on fair access issues More collaborative work

Any questions? Thank you enquiries@offa.org.uk 0117 931 7171