Widening access to Scottish universities

More school pupils from the poorest areas are being admitted to Scotland’s universities despite many falling short of the exam grades they would normally need, official figures have suggested, writes Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.

A report by the Scottish Funding Council found the proportion of students from the country’s most deprived communities has increased to 13.4% following a drive to “widen access”. Angela Constance, the Scottish cabinet secretary for education, praised the figures as evidence of the “progress” being made on Nicola Sturgeon’s goal that every child should have an “equal chance” of attending university.

But the report found that only 6.7% of the poorest youngsters – half that proportion – get the average exam grades required for a university place, raising further questions about the appalling gulf in standards between Scotland’s best and worst state schools and how many pupils with low grades are being awarded places to satisfy the “widening access” targets universities must meet to get their public funding.
Full report on The Telegraph site