SPECIAL ACCESS SCHEMES HELP DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS TO SUCCEED
AT UNIVERSITY
Disadvantaged young people who go to university on special access schemes are up
to 15% more likely to graduate than students from similar backgrounds who do not
take part in such schemes. That is the central finding of new research by Dr Orla
Doyle and colleagues.
Their report, presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2010 annual conference,
also finds that access students who entered with lower grades performed just as well
as their classmates who achieved the required entry grades. Compared with students
from similarly underprivileged backgrounds, access students achieve better exam
grades and are about 5% less likely to drop out of university in their first year.
The report evaluates the New ERA Initiative – a programme based at University
College Dublin (UCD), which aims to improve the academic performance of students
from low socio-economic groups that typically do not go to university.
The programme offers mentoring and support throughout the university experience,
starting with summer schools and shadowing days and continuing with extra financial
aid as well as academic and social guidance. More than 500 students have graduated
from UCD through the initiative since it was first established in 1997.
Dr Orla Doyle says:
‘For our society to prosper, it is essential that the skills and talents of
disadvantaged young people are not wasted.
‘The findings of our report clearly show that if we can encourage disadvantaged
students to attend university, and provide them with the right supports, they will
succeed.
‘If we curtail these initiatives due to the current financial climate, we will lose
out on the future economic benefits.’
More…
Disadvantaged students who enter university on special access schemes are more
likely to graduate than similarly disadvantaged students who do not participate in the
scheme, according to a new report.
The report evaluates the New ERA programme, which is an Irish access initiative
based at University College Dublin (UCD). Its aim is to improve the progression rates
and academic performance of students from low socio-economic groups that typically
do not go to university.
‘An access student is between 10% and 15% more likely to graduate than a similarly
disadvantaged student’, says Dr Orla Doyle from the UCD Geary Institute, one of the
authors of the report.
The programme, which has been operating in Ireland since 1997, raises the
aspirations of underprivileged primary and secondary schools students through a
range of outreach activities, such as summer schools, shadowing days and academic
support. It also offers extra financial aid, academic support and social support from a
team of student advisers, throughout their life at university.
The report, which compared New ERA access students to a control group of students
with similar academic and socio-economic characteristics, also found that access
students were about 5% less likely to drop out of university in their first year
compared with students who were not eligible for the programme as they did not
attend schools where the programme was offered.
The programme also boosts the exam grades of the students. According to Doyle: ‘The
programme essentially shifts the entire exam distribution upwards for access students’.
The findings from Ireland are in line with a recent study of the Reach for Excellence
project in West Yorkshire, which is sponsored by the Sutton Trust. The evaluation,
conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research, found that almost half
of the 16-year-olds who benefited from a summer school, special lectures and
individual mentoring and advice sessions, got into more prestigious universities,
compared with just a fifth of students from similarly underprivileged homes.
According to the New ERA report, equality issues may help drive the efforts to
encourage disadvantaged students to attend university, but wider economic
considerations are just as important.
‘For our society to prosper, it is essential that the skills and talents of disadvantaged
young people are not wasted, just as a firm needs to ensure that its resources are
used to the fullest extent’, explains Doyle.
A simple lack of money and an absence of role models are among the traditional
barriers to access to university education in Ireland. But the single most influential
factor in the progression to university is the educational attainment of one’s father.
The report also finds that access students who entered with lower grades performed
just as well as their classmates who entered with the required grades.
‘The findings of this report clearly show that if we can encourage disadvantaged
students to attend university, and provide them with the right supports, they will
succeed,’ says Doyle. ‘If we curtail these initiatives due to the current financial
climate, we will lose out on the future economic benefits.’
More than 500 students have graduated from University College Dublin through the
New ERA Initiative since it was first established in 1997, and it currently supports 400
students.
ENDS
‘Money, Mentoring and Making Friends: The Impact of a Multidimensional Access
Programme on Student Performance’ by Orla Doyle, Kevin Denny, Patricia O’Reilly,
Vincent O’Sullivan
Contact: Dr Orla Doyle
Senior Researcher
UCD Geary Institute
University College Dublin
Dublin 4
IRELAND
Office: +353 1 7164637
Mobile: +353 876128914
Email: orla.doyle@ucd.ie