Universities in dark over diversity drive

UNIVERSITIES spend hundreds of millions of pounds every year trying to improve diversity “without understanding what works”, a regulator says.

The Office for Students (OFS) reports that around £800million goes on programmes dedicated to broadening intake, but few universities measure the results.

The OFS revealed the figures as it set up an “evidence and impact exchange” to help understand what improves outcomes for disadvantaged students while giving better value for money.

Durham, Exeter, Edinburgh, Warwick and Birmingham universities were among institutions in which the proportion of state-educated pupils was reported to have fallen earlier this month.

This was despite the universities spending considerable amounts of money on “widening participation”.

Exeter University spend £14million a year on recruiting more black and minority ethnic and working-class students. Its measures include a social mobility programme and bursaries.

Durham and Warwick have similarly large budgets for increasing the number of poorer teenagers who study with them. They will spend £11.7million and £10.8 million respectively forthcoming academic year.

At Warwick, this budget includes engaging with schools in “low participation neighbourhoods” in an effort to encourage “under-represented” students to study with them.

Chris Millward, director for Fair Access and Participation at the OFS, said that little is known about whether these approaches are working.

He said: “A huge amount of time, money and resources are already invested in access and participation.

“But there is a lack of understanding about what works, and staff at the coal face have been calling for a central place for evidence on effective approaches to be gathered and shared.

“The evidence and impact exchange will meet this need, improving outcomes for students and providing better value for money on the investments that are made.

“This is the start of a new, more strategic approach to improving access and participation, and we expect universities to up their game.”

The evidence and impact exchange will form part of the Government’s What Works program, a new inde- pendent centre set up to eliminate equality gaps in higher education within 20 years. over the