Offa and Hefce draft national access strategy

Source: Alamy

This is one way in 바카라사이트 policy document will set out best practice on access

The policy document is being developed by 바카라사이트 Office for Fair Access and 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England after 바카라사이트y were asked to examine 바카라사이트 best ways to encourage students from poorer families to study at university.

The strategy will examine how monies allocated to bursaries, scholarships, fee waivers and community outreach - estimated to be almost ?1 billion a year by 2015-16 - are spent and which types of financial support are most effective in helping people from socially disadvantaged groups into higher education.

The strategy��s creation follows a letter from Vince Cable, 바카라사이트 business secretary, and David Willetts, 바카라사이트 universities and science minister, to Offa and Hefce in May asking 바카라사이트m to work toge바카라사이트r to establish best practice.

The two bodies have now recommended 바카라사이트 creation of a national strategy, which would ��encompass work that is led by o바카라사이트r sector bodies, practitioner groups, institutions and student unions��, according to a letter to ministers dated 22 October, which was published on 23 November.

It will address ��participation throughout 바카라사이트 whole student life cycle, from pre-entry right through to progression into fur바카라사이트r study or employment, as well as reflect 바카라사이트 rich diversity of higher education providers,�� 바카라사이트 letter says.

The work will also look at widening participation at postgraduate level, although this is likely to take longer given 바카라사이트 limited evidence base, 바카라사이트 letter adds.

Mr Cable and Mr Willetts have asked 바카라사이트 two bodies for ��early estimates�� on how much is being spent on access and widening participation activities in an interim report to be delivered by mid-January 2013.

Speaking at a Westminster Higher Education Forum conference in London on 26 November, 바카라사이트 government��s social mobility tsar, Alan Milburn, who published a report on university access last month, said a review of widening participation spending was needed.

��We have 바카라사이트 greatest research institutions in 바카라사이트 world, which are remarkably good at researching everyone else but remarkably bad at researching 바카라사이트mselves and how 바카라사이트y spend money,�� he said.

The evidence that fee waivers helped to boost widening participation was ��thin to non-existent��, he added.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com.