higher education – Hinterland https://hinterland.org.uk Rural News Fri, 15 Nov 2019 07:21:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 School leavers missing out on university in higher education ‘cold spots’ https://hinterland.org.uk/school-leavers-missing-out-on-university-in-higher-education-cold-spots/ Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:09:35 +0000 http://www.hinterland.org.uk/?p=2901 This article summarises the findings of a study by England’s Higher Education Funding Council: what difference does having a university in your area make? Actually, quite a lot the study concludes, finding that school leavers in many areas – including those with large numbers of middle-class families – were failing to move on to university despite achieving good exam grades. This is the first time HEFCE has brought school and higher education data together with employment and mobility data to give a comprehensive picture of higher education participation, provision, employment and graduate mobility. It won’t surprise Hinterland readers that the study identified low HE provision in the border areas between England and Wales, along the Cumbrian coast, Humberside and North Yorkshire, from Kent to the Wash and the South West. In practical and statistical terms this means in Corringham and Fobbing, Thurrock, Essex, just 25.6% of school leavers went to university over a five-year period. It was 17.7 percentage points lower than the 43.4% who would be expected to go given the academic performance of pupils. Dorchester East, Dorset, was also high on the list, with just 31.3% of pupils going into higher education – 16.8 percentage points lower than expected. Other areas sending relatively few pupils to university included the wards of Blackdown in Somerset, Puddletown in Dorset, Ingleton in Durham and Bishopstoke East in Hampshire. A series of maps have been produced showing these ‘cold spots’.  What impacts on young people’s choice to participate in HE (e.g. they may not want to move away from family and friends or a lack of locally available jobs requiring a university degree) and what can be done to increase access to provision in rural areas?

]]> Universities set to cut thousands of places as fees continue to soar https://hinterland.org.uk/universities-set-to-cut-thousands-of-places-as-fees-continue-to-soar/ Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:45:00 +0000 http://www.hinterland.org.uk/?p=249 This article reveals: “A  last-minute dash by universities to charge the maximum £9,000 annual fee for next year has prompted expectations that more than 30,000 student places will be axed.

“Two-thirds of English universities have now opted for the maximum charge for all courses – which ministers previously claimed would be only the “exception”.

“Ministers said they would have to impose cuts in student numbers if the average fee is more than £7,500 because they will not be able to afford the loans. It is likely to be more than £8,500 and the Treasury will have to foot all the extra cost up front.”

It is a classic example of unintended consequences where more money raised by Universities will lead to fewer places in HE on offer to students.

There is a significant rural component to this story both in terms of access to HE for poorer rural families and the impact of changed financial priorities for rurally based HE institutions. Neither of which I fear will have a positive content.

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