Improve access or face action, universities warned

England’s top universities have been warned they could face sanctions, including seeing their tuition fees cut, if they do not do more to improve access for disadvantaged youngsters, writes Alison Kershaw for the Belfast Telegraph.

While there is “genuine ambition” to ensure all would-be students have a fair chance of gaining a university place, and getting a degree, there are still gaps in “equality of opportunity”, particularly in the nation’s most selective institutions, according to the Office for Students.

The call comes as access agreements for 41 universities – typically those with high entry requirements and those with early application deadlines, such as institutions with medical schools – were published. Access agreements set out how an institution intends to tackle issues such as recruitment of disadvantaged students, drop-out rates and gaps in degree achievement between different groups.
Full report on the Belfast Telegraph site