We’re proud of our record but there’s still more work to do to educate the masses

Last updated 16:25, Monday, 26 May 2008

Higher education is a major contributor to the economic success and social well-being of the country. And the Government’s annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) sent in January recognises this.

The letter sets out the allocations to the HEFCE for 2008/09 and those proposed for the following two years.

These see growth on average of 2.5 per cent each year – more than the 2.1 per cent in overall public spending.

This might sound good but there are pay-offs – substantial efficiency savings by 2010/11 from Research Council budgets and £500m in efficiency savings.

The Government expects HE to meet a number of priorities including:

Increasing student numbers by 60,000 for those entering HE for the first time;

Continuing to expand foundation degrees with 100,000 enrolments by 2010;

Taking forward the work on widening participation;

Developing stronger structural links with schools and colleges;

Fostering closer ties with industry with 15,000 full-time equivalent additional students co-funded by employers and HEFCE.

All this is good news for Cumbria.

Already the new academies have sponsorship from universities; foundation degrees, many available at local FE colleges, are set to expand; and links with industry, for example UCLan’s close working with the nuclear industry in west Cumbria, are set to develop further. The greatest challenge is that of widening participation. Across the UK, around 44 per cent of people from the richest 20 per cent of households graduate – only 10 per cent from the poorest fifth make it to university and stay the course.

It is also the greatest challenge facing parts of Cumbria, notably Carlisle, the west and Barrow where there are lower than average rates of progression to HE.

Academies in Cumbria have a major responsibility to identify and nurture talent so that all who have the potential to benefit from HE do so. This is not the case at the moment.

It is a complex problem and HE and the academies much of the solution does not lie either with HE or the academies, but both have a crucial role to play and it must be a fundamental part of their mission.

Supporting this will be the HEFCE/LSC/DIUS funded Aimhigher programme in the county which enters a new phase for the three academic years 2008/11. This programme is a key component of Government policy to widen participation and reflects the Government’s efforts to encourage groups of learners that are under-represented in HE to participate.

In this new phase Aimhigher will target priority groups, namely:n Those from lower socio-economic backgroundsn Those from disadvantaged socio-economic groups who live in areas of relative deprivation where participation in HE is lown Children ‘looked after’ in the care systemn Those with a disability or specific learning difficulty.

UCLan already has a proud record in providing HE to people from what are euphemistically called “non-traditional” backgrounds.

It ring-fenced 70 per cent of its income generated from top-up tuition fees to plough back into providing bursaries for students meeting means-tested criteria.

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) places UCLan highest in a table of bursary spending as a proportion of top-up fee income.

In the next academic year, OFFA estimates that HE institutions will be spending £300m alongside Government support, which is more generous than it has been for many years to help students from lower income groups.

Now in west Cumbria, UCLan, through sponsorship of the West Lakes Academy, will hope to develop aspirations for HE throughout the community.