Universities need to reach further

Universities will need to expand again to meet targets

Widening access to university will depend upon reaching out to youngsters living in areas where at present almost no-one enters higher education, says a report.

On Monday, the Education Secretary Estelle Morris called on universities to ensure that their intake was not limited to middle class children.

And a report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England suggests that achieving targets to increase participation will mean recruiting from pockets of deprivation in which higher education is rarely considered an option.

The report says there are areas in which only 5% of youngsters go to university, while in other more affluent areas 70% of young people become graduates.

The government wants 50% of each year group to enter university by the end of the decade.

But the funding council report says that "saturation" has already been reached among middle class youngsters - and that any further expansion will depend on recruiting from families which have had no previous experience of university.

The report, "Supply and demand in higher education", says that the last rapid growth in student numbers was in the early 1990s.

Surge in numbers

This surge, which saw student numbers increase by 67% between 1988 and 1994, followed the introduction of GCSEs, which encouraged staying-on, and an increase in demand for skilled employees.

Another substantial increase will be required if the government's expansion plans are to be met, says the funding council.

And this will require "raising ambition" and "stimulating demand" among young people who have previously not applied to university.

The key to this will be in universities working with schools, says the funding council.

Estelle Morris has also called for universities to build relationships with schools in deprived areas, so that higher education could be seen as a familiar and viable option for young people.