Widening Participation

What widening participation targets are there and how are they monitored?

Targets

• National targets
  Move towards a participation rate of 50% of young people under the age of 30 by 2010. Participation is defined as ‘an opportunity to benefit from HE’ or ‘ to have an experience of HE’. The 50% target therefore includes broader varieties of HE such as the foundation degree or the Certificate of Higher Education.
• Regional targets
  Aimhigher: Partnerships for Progression has set regional targets for each English region. Working through collaborative regional partnerships of HE and FE providers, each region must increase work to increase the HE participation of the young people in its region by 10 percentage points. These targets apply to the region’s young people regardless of the location of the institution to which they ultimately progress. The objective of the regional partnership is to encourage progression to HE not to particular institutions or subject areas. The regional targets set by HEFCE and the LSC are detailed in the table below

Current and target rates of HE participation for young people, by region:

• Institutional targets
  HEFCE publishes benchmark data indicating the expected level of participation at particular institutions by social class, area of residence etc. The benchmarks take into account the particular subject mix at a particular institutions and the location-adjusted benchmarks also include the percentage of particular social groups within the vicinity of the institution. These benchmarks need to be interpreted with care as they are not supposed to be targets, as such.
  Some institutions specify targets in their WP strategies. These may be broken down by faculty or department.
• Local targets
  Individual universities may compare their performance with their peer/local cluster group, set local targets linked to their mission statement and may reflect achievement of targets in funding provision to units.
  Your University's strategic plan or the Widening Participation Office in your university will inform you what targets apply for you. The Department for Education and Skills website lists the contact details of the staff member responsible for an institution's widening participation activities.
  The definition of students that count towards widening participation targets is an issue. Inclusion on the basis of a variety of descriptors is possible: ethnic group; social class; disability; first in family in higher education; from low income group; mature; on a gender imbalanced course; non-standard entry qualification; from state school; by post-code for example.

Monitoring targets:

A number of questions have to be considered when monitoring widening participation targets: For example;

• Does participation equate to one year or more in HE? Or does only the completion of a course count?
• What exit qualification counts as success?
• How are drop out rates calculated? What about the student who drops out of one institution then successfully completes a degree at another? Or the student who takes a break from study and returns at a later date?
• Are part time students included?
• Should employment on leaving be included in monitoring?
  

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