Drop in poor pupils going to university

THE number of 18-year-olds from Scotland’s poorest areas going to university has fallen.

Equality data from the university admissions body Ucas showed a decline in both applications and places awarded among youngsters from the top 20 per cent most deprived areas.

It is an embarrassment for the Scottish Government, which has placed a major focus on cutting the attainment gap between rich and poor, and increasing the number of Scots from the worst-off communities who make it to university.

The figures showed 1,215 18-year-olds from this group were given a place in 2015, down from 1,305 the previous year.

Figures for individual universities, which were published for the first time by Ucas and which have been rounded to the nearest five, show St Andrews University took just 15 18-year-olds from the poorest parts of Scotland in 2015, down from 25 in 2014.

Edinburgh took on 75 students of this age from this background in 2015, compared to 100 the previous year, while the total at Glasgow remained stable at 190.

However, while the number of successful applicants from the poorest areas fell across Scotland as a whole, there was an increase of teenagers from the most affluent communities going to university, which rose from 4,605 to 4,685 over the period.

The Tories, who have proposed graduates pay a charge of up to £6,000 after finishing their studies, claimed the new data showed the SNP administration was failing the poorest students.

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘This is a damning report confirming that the SNP just isn’t doing enough to close the attainment gap or increase opportunity among Scotland’s least-privileged. Students from the most deprived areas are being let down.’