‘Worrying rise’ in number of poor students dropping out

THE number of poor students who drop out of higher education before finishing their degree is at its highest in five years, latest figures show.

It comes following a multi-millionpound drive to recruit students from poorer backgrounds – with universities spending a total of £725.2million on access initiatives in the past academic year alone.

Russell Group universities said that over the past five years, they have almost doubled their funding for scholarships, fee waivers, bursaries and outreach activities aimed at the most disadvantaged.

But despite the vast funds that have been poured into boosting access in higher education, a report, published today by the Office for Fair Access (Offa), concluded that, “while more disadvantaged

‘If you are going to lower the grades then you need to monitor whether those are the people who will drop out’

young people are in higher education than ever before, the numbers of those students leaving before completing their studies has risen for the second year in a row”.

A number of elite universities have taken to lowering their A-level grade offers to students from poor backgrounds, in an attempt to encourage them to apply.

John Howson, a visiting professor of education at Oxford Brookes University, said that the figures are “very worrying”, and warned that universities must not treat access as a mere “numbers exercise”.

He said that there is a danger with “enticing” disadvantaged students through lower grade offers, if they are not going to provide ongoing support for them once they begin their courses.

“Clearly, if you are going to lower the grades then you need to monitor whether those are the people who will drop out quickly, and re-evaluate whether you need to provide extra courses over the summer,” he said.

“You need to make sure if you are offering lower grades, you need to [support students] to make that transition.”

Official data show that in 2014-15, 8.8 per cent of young, full-time disadvantaged undergraduates did not continue beyond their first year.