At the AUT conference today the Secretary of State for Education and
Employment is giving a speech which refers to disability nad other EO
issues. Please see the Press Release.
EO profile keeps on rising!
200/00
10 May 2000
BLUNKETT: NEW DRIVE TO WIDEN ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION
Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett today announced a new
drive to improve access to higher education for bright students from lower
socio-economic groups.
Drawing on lessons from the USA, David Blunkett announced that existing and
new programmes will be brought together into a structured drive to improve
access, which will include summer schools at top universities, mentoring and
advice, bursaries, and links between inner city teachers and college tutors.
Schools and colleges in Excellence in Cities areas will be central to the
new drive. It will include a £4 million boost to institutional funding for
students from areas with historically low rates of participation in higher
education, and new 'opportunity bursaries', designed to encourage high
expectations and assure potential students and their families of the support
available to them at college.
Speaking at the Association of University Teachers (AUT) annual conference
in Eastbourne, Mr Blunkett said:
"The access challenge is one that Government and universities must face
together. Only 17 per cent of young people from lower socio-economic groups
go into higher education, compared to 45 per cent of those from non-manual
groups. Ten higher education institutions take less than five per cent of
young students from areas with low rates of participation. And as the Sutton
Trust recently pointed out, somebody from a private school is nearly 30
times as likely to get into one of the top 13 universities than someone from
a disadvantaged neighbourhood.
"This is not about quotas or lowering thresholds. That would be wholly
wrong. Nor is it about fees and loans. There is no evidence that the current
system of financial support is deterring applicants: student numbers are
rising, and the proportion of students from low income backgrounds has
remained steady. The key issue is that we need to address access in
radically new ways if we are to improve take-up for students across all
universities, in line with their advanced level achievements.
"The programme will include:
* £4 million announced today to help recruit and retain bright
students who have come from areas with low rates of participation in higher
education. The money will add to £18 million already being spent by the
Higher Education Funding Council for England to help with recruitment and
retention of high achievers from such areas;
* the Excellence in Cities (EiC) programme, which will give 5000
gifted and talented 16- and 17-year-olds a taste of university life from
this summer, building on the experience and good practice of Peter Lampl's
Sutton Trust;
* a grant of £63,000 this financial year to support a number of
initiatives run by the Sutton Trust; and
* the introduction of 'opportunity bursaries' from next year to give
able young people from backgrounds without a history of participation in
universities and colleges the extra financial incentives and confidence they
need to embark on a higher education course - involving amounts of up to
£1,000 a year.
"Universities and colleges have a social, economic and moral responsibility
to provide opportunities to all who are able to benefit from higher
education. I look to those institutions to rise to the challenge of widening
access and to work with us to bring every institution up to the level of the
very best. I welcome measures taken by leading universities, including
Oxford and Cambridge, to begin to address the problem. But they will be the
first to recognise that there is much more we can do together.
"The future of children should not be determined by where they live
or where they went to school or college. Major progress has been made in
relation to gender, ethnicity and age, but socio-economic class remains a
real challenge."
Mr Blunkett also addressed issues of equality of opportunity in higher
education:
"I am announcing today the extension of disabled students allowances (DSAs)
of up to £5,000 a year to full- and part-time postgraduate students for the
coming academic year. This is on top of the extension of DSAs to part-time
undergraduate students already announced for September, and will help
disabled students who want to engage in research or complete a masters
degree to do so without having to find all the costs of any specialist help
or equipment they need. This is another major step forward in equality of
access to higher education.
"I have also said that I am determined that the equal opportunities record
in higher education must improve, and I am pleased to see that progress is
now starting to be made, following my Greenwich speech. I want to see
openness, transparency and equality of opportunity reaching the very highest
levels of university governance. It is frankly not good enough that only
five of the 72 English universities and only six higher education colleges
are headed by women, and that there are no ethnic minority heads in either
category. That must change.
"But this is not simply an equal opportunities issue. The Dearing
recommendations on university governance must be also implemented. I am
asking universities to look at appointment procedures for vice-chancellors
and other senior staff, with a view to ensuring full business and community
representation on selection panels. We need openness and transparency in
these appointments as in all others."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Secretary of State was speaking at the AUT annual conference at
Devonshire Park in Eastbourne. AUT records show that it is the first time a
Secretary of State has spoken to the AUT council since Tony Crosland's
speech in 1966.
2. The £4 million to be given to HEFCE will help identify bright students
who have come from backgrounds with a history of low participation in higher
education to help with their recruitment and retention. This year HEFCE gave
higher education institutions £30m a year to use on wider participation
initiatives to widen the social profile of entry into higher education. A 5%
premium was introduced this year for universities to recognise the extra
costs incurred in recruiting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
3. Excellence in Cities (EiC) was launched on 22 March 1999 (PN 126/99) by
the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State. It offers a range of
initiatives including beacon schools, city learning centres, education
action zones learning mentors and learning support units. The Summer Schools
programme is an extension of these initiatives and was announced on 23
November 1999.
4. 'Opportunity Bursaries' will be funded from the £68 million package
announced by the Secretary of State on 25 January 2000 to help students who
face financial barriers to accessing higher education (PN 30/00).
5. The statistics referred to in the press notice are drawn from
'Performance Indicators in Higher Education' published by HEFCE in December
1999.
6. Disabled Students Allowances are paid to students with disabilities who
incur additional costs when studying. The non-means-tested allowances cover
specialist equipment such as computers or braille equipment, non-medical
personal helpers such as sign language interpreters and additional travel
costs as well as a general allowance. Baroness Blackstone announced on 10
December 1999 (PN 583/99) that from September 2000 DSAs would be extended to
students on degree and sub-degree courses studying the equivalent of at
least 50% of a full-time course.
7. USA initiatives such as 'Gear Up' work specifically towards widening
access into higher education. The programme was established by President
Clinton in 1998 as part of his 'high hopes for college initiative'. It was
proposed that every college should partner at least one middle school in a
low income community. It provides federal grants to US States and
partnerships between colleges and high poverty middle schools and junior
high schools. Grants are awarded for early college awareness activities,
parental involvement, improved academic support, mentoring, and information
on paying for college and scholarships.
8. Copies of the text of Mr Blunkett's speech are available on the DfEE
website and hard copies for the media can be obtained from the press office
numbers below.
9. The DfEE has produced the leaflet "Making a Difference" which provides
basic information about the financial help available to students in higher
education. For media copies, call the press office numbers below, otherwise
call the DfEE information line on 0800 731 9133.
PRESS ENQUIRIES: Kate Ormrod 020 7925 5373
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Ben Novick 020 7925 5361
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OUT OF HOURS MEDIA CALLS: 07659 105993
PUBLIC ENQUIRIES: 0870 000 2288
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Fiona Waye
Policy Adviser
Email :[log in to unmask]
web :www.cvcp.ac.uk
Tel :+44(0)20 7419 4111
Fax :+44(0)20 7388 6256
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