Widening Access to Higher Education & the Conservatives : Bright New Dawn? Dr. Graeme Atherton Head, AccessHE

Prime Minister’s Target ‘The Prime Minister has set out a goal to continue the proportionate increase of disadvantaged young people going to university – so that by 2020, the most disadvantaged young people will proportionately be twice as likely to enter higher education than they were under Labour, up to 28% in 2020 from under 13.6% in 2009 and 18.2% in Applications from this group have reached a record high in 2015, with the latest data showing a 21% application rate’

Teaching Excellence Framework to ensure all students receive an excellent teaching experience to build a culture where teaching has equal status with research to stimulate a diverse HE market and provide students with the information they need to judge teaching quality to recognise those institutions that do the most to welcome students from a range of backgrounds and support their retention and progression to further study or a graduate job Jo Johnson, 1 st July 2015

Widening Access and the TEF ‘Jo Johnson, the universities and science minister, said at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on 6 October that “widening participation and access will be intimately linked to the TEF”. “One of the core metrics we envisage using in the TEF will be the progress and the value add [for] students from disadvantaged backgrounds, measuring it for example in terms of their retention and completion rates.’ Times Higher Education, October 2015

Early impact raising cap Acceptances to the entry year at this point are 511,730 (late 2015) This is an increase of 12,610 (3 per cent) compared to the entry year (at the equivalent point in the 2014 cycle). Acceptances to the entry year are 7 per cent more than to and 16 per cent more than to

Rising importance of BTECs ABB+ 90,160 holding GCE A levels, -150 (no change to the nearest per cent) 46,330 holding BTECs, +3,430 (+8 per cent) Non ABB+ 156,420 holding GCE A levels, -440 (no change to the nearest per cent) 53,610 holding BTECs, +1,040 (+2 per cent) UCAS (2015)

Black and Minority Ethnic Students ‘We also want to see a 20% increase in the number of black and minority ethnic students going to university by 2020, with matched improvements in their completion rates and progression into work. Young people with a Caribbean heritage will need special attention as part of this work and I will be discussing this with HEFCE and OFFA, and my counterparts at the Department for Education.’ Jo Johnson, October 2015

BAME Learners and London

White, working class boys ‘Barely 10% of white British boys from the most disadvantaged backgrounds go to university, making them 5 times less likely to study at this level than the most advantaged white boys. This needs serious attention and I will be writing to OFFA asking them to focus on this in their guidance to institutions on 2017 to 2018 access agreements.’ Jo Johnson, October 2015

Achieving the PM target