The University's widening participation plans have been approved

Thursday, 16 July 2015

The University of Reading's £7.2m a year plans to recruit and support disadvantaged students has been approved by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). The Access Agreement for 2016/17 package details the University's programme to widen participation and improve access in higher education, including:

• a comprehensive outreach and recruitment programme targeting students from under-represented backgrounds - particularly from areas with very low graduate levels or no households with no history of higher education.
• financial support, bursaries and tuition fee waivers, including the Reading Bursary Scheme which awards £1000 a year to each eligible student from households with annual income of less than £25,000. 2,500 awards have been made this year.
• targeted support during students' degree course to prepare them for future study or work, including one to one academic support; work placements; internships; peer and career mentoring.

The Access Agreement provisional analysis of its 2014/15 first year UK full-tome undergraduate cohort, showed it was up year on year in every major widening participation category and well ahead of its agreed targets:

• 86.7% of new entrants from state schools - up from 86.1% in 2013/14 and 81.8% in 2010/11, when Access Agreements came into force (University target - 83.8%)
• 27.6% from working class backgrounds * (University target - 23%) - up from 25.2% in 2013/14 and 6.3% in 2010/11 (University target - 6.1%).
• 26.1% from households with income less than £25,000 - up from 25% in 2013/14 and 22.1% in 2010/11 (University target - 205)
• 19.2% from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds - in line with 2013/14 and up from 14% in 2010/11.
• 7.2% from Low Participation Neighbourhoods - based on the rates of Higher Education entry for 18 year olds between 2005

The Access Agreement also confirms that the University intends to charge £9,000 a year tuition fees for all UK and EU full-time undergraduate students** in 2016/17. The fees are covered by a government loan, which graduates start paying back once they start earning a minimum of £21,000.

The University will spend 27% of all tuition fee income above £6,000 to fund the programme. Overall, the Access Agreement confirms 40.1% will be invested in financial support; 28% on the Reading Bursary Scheme and the remaining 12.1% discretionary financial support. The remaining 59.9% will be split equally between outreach and recruitment; and student success and progression programmes.

Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell said:

"Higher education should be open to all who would benefit. Our core mission is to set attract students from all backgrounds, set them high academic standards and give them the support they need throughout their studies and beyond to achieve great results. 

"Widening participation is more than just student recruitment. It is about supporting students from the moment they are thinking about coming to university all the way through to graduation.

"We have a strong record and, year-on-year, are attracting high-quality students who in years who previously might never have considered going to university. These students are not numbers on a page in the Access Agreement - they are individuals whose lives have been changed for the better.

"We're not complacent. The UK still has inequalities in educational attainment and progression. The world is moving rapidly to a high-skilled economy - our targeted investment makes sure that our graduates are equipped for the workplace, further study and the rest of the lives."

Background

*The National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification<http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dev3/ONS_NSSEC_discovery_tool.html> has eight categories. The University measures the proportion of its intake from groups 4 to 7:

**The University intends to charge the following for new students starting in 2016/17:

 *   BA Accounting and Business Programme - £7,200 in its second, third and fourth years.
 *   Undergraduate students on a placement year or year abroad - 15% of tuition fee
 *   Postgraduate Initial Teacher Training courses - £9,000. The University intends to charge the following for ITT students on the School Direct route: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) (£9,000); Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (£7,500); Postgraduate Certificate in Early Years (£7,000).