Universities can work together, but don’t drop targets

UNIVERSITIES have always competed for students, not to mention staff. So it is not immediately apparent why this should not be the case when recruiting learners from more deprived backgrounds.

This task is fundamentally different, however. At present, it can be difficult for higher education institutions to meet targets for widening access.

In parts of the country school leavers achieving the grades ordinarily expected for university admission are in limited supply.

This, combined with targets to widen access, can lead to perverse outcomes – an institution which poaches such students from another can benefit, leaving its “rival” under pressure.

Such unhelpful competition is a problem, according to the latest report by Universities Scotland on widening access. At present there aren’t enough students from under-represented groups to go round. But that does not mean watering down the demands for individual universities to make progress against targets for admission is a good idea.

The aim of the widening access strategy is to ensure a fairer system, which gives those from all backgrounds an equal chance to benefit from higher education.

If setting regional targets, as Universities Scotland proposes, would encourage collaboration and hence hasten progress towards that goal, then the suggestion is worth looking at.

However, there is little to prevent such collaboration already. Meanwhile, any shortage of candidates is likely to be improved by the moves currently under way to reduce the grades asked of would-be undergraduates from poorer backgrounds.

This will increase the available pool of candidates and offset the impact of competition.

There is a whiff of the fox asking if he might take a shot at running the chicken coop in Universities Scotland’s plea for penalties to be dropped for institutions which miss targets.

Leave decisions on who meets entry requirements to us, universities seem to be saying, and don’t fine us if we fall short.

It is not in the gift of universities to tackle the attainment gap in schools, or other problems that students from deprived backgrounds can face earlier on in their educational journey. But they are not being asked to do that, so much as to make their own selection processes more effective.

Universities are elite institutions, and should be free to select the best candidates. But those taking part should be the best in terms of their talent, potential and application not by virtue of their wealth, privilege or educational advantage.

Currently Scottish universities recruit around 10 per cent of their students from the 20 per cent of areas which are most deprived. The Government is asking universities to raise this to 20 per cent of students by 2030.

No-one would dispute that it is a major challenge. But removing the responsibility for individual universities to meet their own specific targets is not the way forward.