Copy of Presentation plan....

Widening Participation to Higher Education in the UK and the search for the Nacirema

Taking Note

But what if...

Understanding the Nacirema

Now Mr Storan...

Fast forward 30 years...

Meet the Family

Professor John Storan

All very strange...

The Nacirema

And what would you say if...

Thoughts of Higher Education

Reality of Higher Education

Presentation Plan

Reflections on my HE journey

The rituals and practices of accessing HE

Community, culture and family

Contact

Reflections on the journey of HE to widening participation

Policy Domain(SASS-2014-2019)

Press Domain

Practice Domain

(Findings on institutional WP practice )

Policy Domain

(Government Position – 2012/13 )

Policy Domain(Policy position – EU 2012)

Trends in young participation for the most disadvantaged areas determined by HE participation rates (POLAR2 classification)

Integrated Approach to WP

Policy Domain (Brief WP Policy History)

Roles and responsibilities

• Aim of the SASS:
• To facilitate the development of long-term, strategic, whole-institution approaches to widening participation, while avoiding duplication and reducing unnecessary burden on the sector
• The SASS will need to set out how HEIs will be:
• Taking an evidence-based approach to addressing those priorities set our in your SASS and aligning strategies across your institution
• Contributing to national as well as local priorities – for example, growing the overall applicant pool by ensuring good geographical coverage of long-term, co-ordinated outreach and contributing to the evidence base
• Considering fully the whole student lifecycle

• Emphasis on social mobility with WP and greater access as proxies
• HEFCE and OFFA to work together on shared access strategy to maximise HEFCE and HEIs investment in WP
• The most important indicator of HE participation is prior educational achievement
• School reforms and the improvement of attainment at post 16 years is seen as crucial.

Policy Domain

• Shift in organisational culture and attitudes to WP in majority of HEI’s since WP funding was introduced in 1999/2000,
• Institutions have been encouraged to mainstream WP and therefore not required to directly account for their WP allocation spend
• Limited evidence that impact is being systematically evaluated and that the evidence base is being built

“The student body entering and graduating from higher education institutions should reflect the diversity of Europe’s populations. We will step up our efforts towards underrepresented group to develop the social dimension of higher education, reduce inequalities and provide adequate students support services, counselling and guidance, flexible learning paths and alternative access routes, including recognition of prior learning. We encourage the use of peer learning on the social dimension and aim to monitor progress in this area.”

(Bucharest Communiqué, 2012)

Policy

Will this man stop your child going to a top university?

The Sunday Times, February 19th, 2012

• Continuum, Director, Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies – University of East London www.uel.ac.uk/continuum
• Action on Access, Director, WP National Co-ordination Team www.actiononaccess.org
• Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE) Chair – Practitioners’ Network.
• www.f-a-c-e.org.uk

Widening participation to HE

Source: HEFCE publication 2010/03, Trends in young participation in higher education: core results for England, Figure 3

(Uses and Impact of HEFCE funding for WP CFE & EHU 2013)

• Dearing ‘HE in the Learning Society’ (1997)
• Kennedy ‘Learning Works’ (1997)
• ‘Learning Age’ (1998)
• HEFCE Consultation (1998)
• HEFCE Request for initial Widening Participation statements (1999)
• Revised Widening Participation strategies and 3 year action plans submitted to HEFCE (2001)
• Partnerships for progression Policy (2003)
• White Paper on HE: “The Future of Higher Education” (2003)
• Office for Fair Access and Access Agreements (2004)

Practice Domain

Research Domain

Concluding comments

Concerns and Comments from the WP community of practice –January 2014

Practice Domain

(Headlines from the Monitoring)

Policy Domain(HEFCE student opportunity Funding)

Research Domain

(HE growth and WP progress)

Policy Domain(Spending)

Institutions were asked to report on their three to five most successful/ significant WP activities across the student lifecycle.

Policy Domain (Brief WP Policy History)

Policy Domain

(Policy Position- 2011 White Paper)

Policy Domain

(Policy Position 1997- HE Review)

% of institutions reporting this type of activity as successful/significant

Category of activity

Research

• Participation in HE has grown in the UK from 15% in 1970/71 to 40% in 2011/12
• Most advantaged 20% are seven times more likely to go to the most selective universities than the 40% most disadvantaged
• transition from elite system to mass system of HE still a work in progress
• improve our understanding of HE participation as part of the distribution of opportunity
• Re balance the social good and wider benefits of an inclusive HE system with the economic ones
• The search for the Nacirema goes on!

• Fragmentation of WP voice (internal/ external)
• Dismantling of IAG (Connexions, Aimhigher)
• Fair Access vs. Social Justice
• HEFCE funding under threats
• Need for regional/ national Cooperation (Annual Access Summit, Access Alliance)
• Lack of policy clarity (white paper not enacted)
• Marketisation and outsourcing of WP functions (deskilling the WP community quality issues)
• Competition vs. Collaboration (consequences for WP partnerships)
• Opportunity distribution and redistribution
• Sustainable funding base for WP

Estimated access agreement expenditure (including Government NSP allocation) by 2016-17: by type of spend, HEIs and FECs

Involvement with school partnership programme 29%

Summer schools 27%

Academic outreach interventions pre-entry 27%

(e.g. masterclasses, taster days)

Pre-entry information, advice and guidance (IAG) 27%

Links with secondary schools 26%

Activities to improve retention and student success 26%

Campus visits/open days 25%

Course/curriculum development 24%

Progression agreements/internal progression within institutions 24%

Activities to improve employability 21%

• £332m in 13/14 allocated by students profile to universities to support extra costs of:
• Outreach activity to raise aspiration and attainment of under-represented groups
• Supporting greater access to HE and improve learning experience of disabled students
• Helping students at risk of not completing (as part of teaching enhancement funds)

• 40 years of HE growth
• 1970/71 = 600,000 (15%)
• 2011/12 = 2.5 million (40%)
• Mid 2000’s gap between the most advantaged and the most disadvantaged narrowed
• This narrowing process was described by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) the first time it happened and therefore a ‘remarkable achievement’
• (Source: OFFA)

“We will ensure that widening participation for students of all backgrounds remains a key strategic objective for all higher education institutions. All universities will produce widening participation strategic assessments, with HEFCE and OFFA continuing to work together to ensure coherence and avoid duplication with Access Agreements”

Students at the Heart of the System, BIS, 2011

• Lifelong Learning Networks (2004 - 2008)
• Integrated Aimhigher (2004 - 2010)
• Milburn Report, “Unleashing Aspiration” (2009)
• Widening Participation Strategic Agreements (June 2009)
• Browne Report (2010)
• White paper on HE: “Students at the Heart of the System” (2011)
• Aimhigher funding terminated (2011)
• Milburn Report, “University Challenge: How Higher Education can Advance Social Mobility” (2012)
• HEFCE and OFFA National strategy for access and student success (SASS) (2013-14)

Dearing Recommendations set WP policy direction

“We recommend to the government and the Funding Bodies that, when allocating funds for the expansion of higher education, they give priority to those institutions which can demonstrate a commitment to widening participation, and have in place a participation strategy, a mechanism for monitoring progress, and a provision for review by the governing body of achievement.

(HE in the Learning Society, Ron Dearing p.14, 1997)

Total: £809.5 million

Professor John Storan

Tel: 0208 223 2162

E-mail: j.storan@uel.ac.uk

www.uel.ac.uk/continuum

www.actiononaccess.org

www.f-a-c-e.org.uk

Practice