Universities issue warning over meeting key target on improving access for Scottish students from disadvantaged backgrounds

The sector is still on track but fears the next steps will be ‘by far the hardest’

Scottish universities have issued a warning over further progress towards achieving a key target for increasing the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds despite hitting record numbers last year.

Sector leaders welcomed a new report showing universities were on track towards having 20 per cent of entrants from the 20 per cent most deprived areas by 2030, but said the next stage would be “by far the hardest”.

The study by the Scottish Funding Council showed there were 5,595 Scottish students entering full-time, first-degree courses from the 20 per cent most deprived areas in 2021/22.

Graduates from Edinburgh University celebrate after a graduation ceremony at the McEwan Hall in the centre of Edinburgh. Picture: PA

The figure represented an increase of 80 students compared to the preceding year, and is 16.5 per cent of all entrants in Scotland, which is above the interim target of 16 per cent. However, the proportion was a slight decrease on the 16.7 per cent recorded in 2020/21.

This dip prompted the sector to sound a note of caution over the ability of universities to increase the proportion further towards the target of 20 per cent by 2030, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, which represents the nation’s higher education institutions, said: “We are concerned that the ‘final mile’ to the 2030 target for widening access will be by far the hardest.

"Universities have made significant progress to widen access, acting on the areas within their control. However, systemic challenges like the poverty-related attainment gap in schools remain stubbornly persistent and the legacy of the pandemic means universities must offer greater levels of academic and pastoral support to students to help them overcome this period of major disruption to their compulsory education.”

Mr Sim said a more “person-centred” measurement should be added, rather than just judging disadvantage by those living in neighbourhoods highlighted in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

It is understood such a measurement could include data on access to free school meals or the Scottish Child Payment. The new report also highlighted the “substantive contribution” made by the nation’s colleges.

A total of 45.6 per cent of those starting degrees from the 20 per cent most deprived areas progressed from a college course last year, an increase from 40.4 per cent in 2020/21.

If all full and part-time higher education undergraduates at Scotland’s universities and colleges are combined, 19.1 per cent of entrants were from the 20 per cent most deprived areas.

When focusing on full-time entrants only, that figure is 20.3 per cent. A total of 24.2 per cent of Scottish college entrants to higher education courses are from the 20 per cent most deprived areas.

Meanwhile, the statistics also show 1,720 care-experienced students entered undergraduate higher education courses at Scotland’s colleges and universities in 2021/22, an increase of 35 on the previous year.

Education and skills secretary Jenny Gilruth said: "Widening access is a top priority for the Scottish Government, and I am delighted to see a record number of first time students from the most deprived areas in Scotland securing a place at university.”

Ms Gilruth added: “I am encouraged by the progress we have made in partnership with Scotland’s universities so far and I am determined to go further.”