Who is missing from higher education?

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Who is missing from higher education?

Stephen Gorard

School of Education

University of Birmingham

B15 2TT

[email protected]

Abstract

This paper discusses the difficulties of establishing a clear count of UK higher
education students in terms of the categories used for widening participation, such as
occupational background or ethnicity. Using some of best and most complete data
available, such as the annual figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the
paper then establishes that there is little evidence of a simple consistent pattern of
under-representation within these categories, except perhaps for men, and students of
white ethnicity. However, once prior qualifications are taken into account, there is no
evidence that potential students are unfairly and disproportionately denied access to
HE in terms of occupation, ethnicity, sex or disability. This has important
implications for what we mean by widening participation in HE, and how we might
achieve it.

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