
The UPP Foundation has published the fourth and final report of its widening participation inquiry. If implemented, its recommendations could have a significant impact on higher education institutions in London.
Dr Richard Boffey, Head of AccessHE, comments:
Higher levels of participation in higher education realise not just the Opportunity Mission but the Growth Mission. We therefore welcome the UPP Foundation’s recommendations on reinforcing a joint focus on opportunity and growth, and involving business to a greater extent.
We would like to see the report’s proposed target for reducing higher education participation gaps to 10% or lower between areas of England applied to populations within regions too, as a means of ensuring equitable access to higher education opportunities across class as well as regional divides. This would align with recommendations set out in our own recent research into higher education participation trends in the capital, which found a growing socio-economic HE access gap.
The report proposes funding a future model of widening participation in higher education in part via an international student levy. Whilst funding is undeniably needed to tackle some of the more entrenched inequalities identified by UPP’s inquiry, a levy that would directly compromise institutions’ financial health and damage the UK’s international competitiveness is not the solution.