A seminar on
Higher Education Funding and Access
Date: 9th November 2012
Venue: Nuffield Foundation
Entry to higher education has long ceased to be the preserve of a small, privileged minority.
Nonetheless, there remain substantial socio-economic gaps in university participation and these are
viewed as one major barrier to increased social mobility. Concerns about the effects of the higher
education funding system on participation amongst students from poorer backgrounds have been
brought to the forefront of public debate as the new regime in England - including the controversial
increase in tuition fees - comes into place in October 2012.
This seminar will present new evidence on these issues, taken from a research project by the Institute
of Education and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that is funded by the Nuffield Foundation
(See http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/higher-education-funding-and-access-exploring-common-beliefs
for more details). The seminar is taking place as part of the tenth annual ESRC Festival of Social
Science.
10:00
Welcome by Professor Sir David Watson
10:05
Introduction to the issues (John Micklewright, Institute of Education)
How does university entry in the 21st century vary by family background? What do recent
UCAS figures on applications to higher education in England suggest about the likely
implications of the new funding regime for participation, especially amongst those from
poorer backgrounds? How does this compare to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
10:20
Socio-economic gaps in university participation (Claire Crawford, IFS)
It is well known that there are substantial socio-economic differences in university entry;
but much less is known about the role of student support in driving these differences. How
did the increase in tuition fees in 2006-07 affect the relationship between family
background and higher education participation, including at high status institutions? This
session will use administrative data on the population of state school students in England
to provide new evidence on this important issue.
10:50
Fees and financial support for students in England (Lorraine Dearden, IFS)
The 2012-13 reforms to higher education finance in England included the replacement of
the old bursaries system with a new National Scholarship Programme designed to support
students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This session provides new evidence on the
fees charged and financial support available to students attending different universities
and the implications this may have for efforts to ‘widen’ participation in higher education.
11:20
Initial comments from the panel members
11:35
Open discussion
12:00
Close
About the Chair and Panel Members
The event will be chaired by Professor Sir David Watson, Principal of Green Templeton College Oxford
and Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation. The expert panel members are David Raffe (Professor of
Sociology of Education at the University of Edinburgh), Bahram Bekhradnia (Director of the Higher
Education Policy Institute), and Charles Ritchie (Knowledge and Innovation Group, Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills).