Dr Jude Pickering
illuminare Education Associate
We often talk about widening access to university, but a new report, “Coast and Country: Access to Higher Education Cold Spots in England,” lays bare a deeply troubling truth: your postcode is still a major predictor of whether you’ll make it to higher education, especially if you’re from a disadvantaged background.
The report highlights a quiet but concerning shift that has taken place since the early 2000s, away from tackling higher education inequality in specific places, towards a more institution-centric approach. And the data shows this isn’t working.
The stark reality? London is masking a national problem.
While the capital boasts impressive university participation rates for students from Free School Meal (FSM) backgrounds, the picture outside of London is bleak. Remove London (which accounts for just 16% of the population within England), and the national FSM participation rate plummets from 29% to a mere 23%.
But it gets even more granular and more alarming:
- Rural Isolation: If you’re an FSM student in a rural village, you have the lowest chance of all at going to university.
- Coastal Concerns: Coastal communities see FSM participation rates 11 percentage points lower than inland areas (21% vs 32%).
- The Widening Divide: The gap between urban and rural FSM participation has grown over the last decade, with urban areas at 31% and rural areas lagging at 19%.
- Size Matters: The smaller your town or village, the lower your chances. Core cities see 42% participation for FSM learners, but villages are stuck at 19%.
- Hidden Urban Cold Spots: It’s not just rural. Some urban areas, like South Gloucestershire at a shocking 12.3%, are among the lowest in the entire country.
- Local Lotteries: The report highlights massive disparities between towns – Slough at 47.1% FSM participation, compared to Blackpool at 16.2%.
Crucially, the report challenges the overemphasis on school attainment alone. While good GCSEs are important, they’re simply not enough in these “cold spot” areas. Other place-based barriers are clearly at play.
So, what’s the solution? The report’s recommendations are clear: we need to bring “place” back to the heart of widening access.
- Local Targets: Embed specific higher education participation targets for FSM backgrounds within government devolution strategies.
- Audit Local Opportunities: Conduct a comprehensive review of all post-16 educational opportunities, pinpointing where provision is lacking.
- Ensure Local Access: Based on this audit, commit to ensuring geographically accessible higher education opportunities for everyone.
- Tailored Regional Support: The new initiative replacing Uni Connect must explicitly focus on rural and coastal communities, with funding and structures that reflect their unique challenges.
- Shift the Focus: Government strategy should prioritise increasing participation of target groups in specific places, rather than enabling individual universities and providers to focus exclusively on their own challenges.
The message is resounding: unless we shift our strategic focus to the unique challenges and opportunities within different places, the promise of higher education for all will remain an unfulfilled dream for too many young people across England, and the opportunity to improve economic growth and reduce inequity experienced in areas of greatest social disadvantage will be missed. Smaller and newer providers could be best placed to address these issues.
It’s time to redraw the map of opportunity.