University elitism ‘is worse than in England’

PUPILS from the most deprived areas of Scotland are less likely to go to university than those from the poorest parts of England.

The disclosure has sparked fresh claims that the SNP is failing on education.

Only 12.3 per cent of 18-year-olds from Scotland’s poorest areas have secured a university place, compared to 16.5 per cent in England, newly published figures from admissions body Ucas show.

It blows a massive hole in the SNP’s claim that offering free university education helps improve the prospects of those from deprived backgrounds.

A former SNP minister was yesterday among those to call for ‘modest’ tuition fees to return.

Nicola Sturgeon has previously said closing the so-called attainment gap is one of her key priorities. University education has been provided free of charge to Scottish students since 2007, when graduate endowments were abolished, while those studying in the rest of the UK must pay up to £9,000 per year.

But the SNP has faced criticism for cutting the value of bursaries it provides to poorer students.

Former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill also acknowledged in a Scotsman newspaper column yesterday that the SNP’s approach has hit support for the poorest and said ‘the time may be coming when a modest tuition fee may be a tradeoff for grants for the poorest’.

Liz Smith, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘These figures show it’s much easier for a pupil from a deprived background in England to get to university than it is in Scotland.

‘The SNP has had more than a decade to address this but it has failed.

‘This SNP Government now owes generations of disadvantaged youngsters an explanation – why are their contemporaries south of the Border significantly more likely to get to university?’

Miss Smith added: ‘This also blows a hole in the SNP’s policy of universal free tuition. It blatantly is not working, is harming universities financially and – as Kenny MacAskill has now admitted – is reducing opportunity for those who need it the most.’

Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon promised every child, regardless of background, would have an equal chance of going to university, but that’s not happening.’

The latest Ucas statistics show that 16.5 per cent of 18-year-old applicants from England accepted to university were from the poorest areas compared with 12.3 per cent among their Scottish peers when using the same measurement.

The figures do show that more students from the poorest areas of Scotland are going to university. This year’s figure of 12.3 per cent is 1.9 percentage points higher than last year, while the rate for the ‘most advantaged’ pupils was 36.5 per cent, the same as last year.

A spokesman for Education Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said: ‘When looking at entry rates for 18year-olds from low participation areas, Scotland has the highest percentage point increase this year in the UK at this stage in the process.

‘Today’s Ucas figures show the number of students from Scotland’s most deprived areas who have been accepted to university – as well as the overall number of Scottish students getting a place at a Scottish university – are both at record levels.’

‘SNP had a decade to address this’