Higher Education still not fully accessible to all

Higher Education is still not fully accessible to all - but institutions can make a difference. More work is needed to make universities and higher education institutions fully accessible to everyone - especially students from lower-socio-economic backgrounds, disabled students and black and minority ethnic students - according to a new report published today from King's College London. Commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Causes of differences in student outcomes outlines findings based on a thorough literature review, s with employees in the HE sector, and research into the approaches and interventions used to support students from different backgrounds at nine English HE providers. Dr Anna Mountford-Zimdars, from King's Learning Institute at King's College London, said, "Last year the Government's national strategy for access and student success in higher education stressed the importance of not only entry into higher education but also students' progression through their studies and on to further study or employment upon completion. We found however, that students from socio-economically disadvantaged groups still tend to do least well at university - and white students often achieve better outcomes and report the highest levels of student satisfaction." Working with colleagues at the University of Manchester, Dr Mountford-Zimdars has helped HEFCE develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of outcomes achieved by students from different backgrounds, including their retention in HE, their level of attainment, whether they gain employments and indeed whether their employment can be considered a graduate job.