Students that combine vocational education with academic studies are nearly as successful at gaining entry to and completing the first year of higher education as those with general academic qualifications, a new study has found. But students with only a vocational education are less likely to get to university than those with A levels and are more likely to drop out after their first year.

In the study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Oxford University's Dr Geoff Hayward found a high proportion of students with combined academic and vocational qualifications gained in state-school sixth forms had similar backgrounds to the traditional academic applicants.

Hayward reported that the increasing proportion of students applying to enrol in higher education with combined academic and vocational qualifications could be widening participation - although not substantially.

"Students with a vocational background are particularly under-represented in prestigious higher education institutions," Hayward said. "This is due to the self-limiting perceptions of the students and to the judgements about the competence of vocational students by universities."

He said applicants with only a vocational background came from lower socio-economic groups, were more often male, older, disabled and from a non-white ethnic background. These were precisely the types of students the British government was targeting in its efforts to widen participation in higher education.

"In spite of this, these students are still being failed by the system," Hayward said. "It is not just a question of ensuring more people from non-traditional backgrounds gain access. Widening participation is also about fairness of access and ensuring that the students are successful at university."

The study revealed that students from vocational backgrounds tended to be in institutions with fewer resources and in institutions that "carried less weight" in the labour market. Their experience of higher education was also often complex and difficult, and many felt they were not properly prepared at school or college for what was expected of them at university.

"They also have trouble with their particular subjects of study. Some of them find it difficult to balance academic work with family commitments and the work they have to do to pay for their studies. Students need to be able to draw on support to overcome these difficulties.

"Then again, many of the existing support mechanisms are only aimed at students with general academic qualifications. Other support mechanisms are too standardised for the particular needs of non-traditional students."

The Oxford researchers are now working with a variety of stakeholders to determine the practical consequences of the research findings. The relative success of students who combine vocational with academic education could point the way to reform.

But Hayward said the greatest obstacle to widening higher education participation and to making access fairer was still the status inequality between vocational qualifications and traditional academic qualifications.

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