Widening participation

The goal of widening participation in higher education is a major component of government education policy in the United Kingdom; see role of the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It consists of an attempt to increase not only the numbers of young people entering higher education, but also the proportion from so-called "under-represented groups" (those from lower income families, people with disabilities and some ethnic minorities).

In this way it is hoped to redress the inequalities in participation between social classes. Widening participation is one of the strategic objectives of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The issue of widening participation became a political hot topic after the Laura Spence Affair which hit the headlines in 2000 and after the 2003 University of Bristol admissions row which converned alleged biases in favour of the state sector.

HEFCE is pursuing this policy through a number of measures, including the payment of financial incentives to universities, and by funding the Aimhigher programme.

This policy is linked to the Labour government's target of increasing participation in higher education to 50% by 2010, and is part of a wider drive to achieve social justice.

[http://www.actiononaccess.org/ Action on Access] is the National Co-ordination Team for HEFCE's Widening Participation Activities. Based at Edge Hill University in the North West of England, Action on Access provides an invaluable resource for widening participation practitioners in Higher Education Institutions and partnerships.

IntoUniversity, an education charity in London, works to promote widening participation among disadvantaged children and young people. The work of IntoUniversity helps to combat the postcode lottery concept of education, the idea that soci-economic factors determine whether one succeeds of fails academically. [http://www.intouniversity.org]

References

*"Young participation in higher education" by Mark Corver [http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/ HEFCE 2005/03]
*"Review of widening participation research: addressing the barriers to participation in higher education", Report to HEFCE by University of York, Higher Education Academy and Institute for Access Studies, July 2006 [http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2006/rd13_06/]
*"How to think about widening participation in UK higher education", Report to HEFCE by Professor Sir David Watson, July 2006 [http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2006/rd13_06/]
*"Review of widening participation research: addressing the barriers to participation in higher education", Report to HEFCE by University of York, Higher Education Academy and Institute for Access Studies, September 2006 [http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2006/rd13_06/barriers.doc]

External links

* [http://www.dius.gov.uk/role.htm Role of the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)]
* [http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/01-02/0102485.pdf Widening participation in higher education in England, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC485 Session 2001-2002: 18 January 2002]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/hegateway/strategy/hestrategy/fair.shtml DfES White Paper: The future of Higher Education, 2003]
* [http://www.hefce.ac.uk/widen/ HEFCE: Widening participation]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/hegateway/hereform/offa/index.cfm DfES Higher Education]
* [http://www.actiononaccess.org/ National co-ordination team for widening participation in higher education]
* [http://www.purepotential.org/ Pure Potential: Independent, national organisation which helps bright students from state schools and colleges with university and careers] [http://www.intouniversity.org] IntoUniversity: an education charity working to promote widerning participation.