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EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE U.K:
FROM ‘SYSTEM SLOWDOWN’ TO
‘SYSTEM ACCELERATION’.
Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours
Institute of Education, University of London
July 2000
Abstract
This paper sets out to explore the implications of current patterns of participation and
attainment, particularly among 16-19 year olds, for the further expansion of higher education in
the UK. It uses a range of recent statistics on participation and attainment to describe what is
termed ‘system slowdown’. It then goes on to explore a basis for ‘system acceleration’ through
the development of five possible routes into higher education both for 16-19 year olds and for
adults. We conclude the paper by looking briefly at a number of inter-related strategies the
Government could adopt to encourage ‘system acceleration’. We suggest that unless the
Government is prepared to consider policy changes of this type, it is unlikely to reach the higher
education participation target it has set itself and may also jeopardise the basis for a sustainable
lifelong learning system for the 21st century.
Introduction
Recent research in the UK suggests that participation in higher education secures national
economic benefits, improves personal economic life-chances and spreads wider social benefits
(Bynner & Egerton 1999). In the light of these types of benefits from increased participation in
higher education, the current Labour Government in this country actively supports the further
expansion of higher education and the Prime Minister has said that he would like to see 50 per
cent of young learners - those under 30 years of age - participating in higher education (DfEE
1999a).1 More recently the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has indicated that to
reach such a target might take a decade (Brown 1999); a position which he confirmed in his
Budget statement to the House of Commons this summer (Brown 2000).
The current level of higher education participation for this age group is estimated to be 41 per
cent (DfEE 1999a). To reach the new target would, therefore, require a substantial increase in
higher education participation over the next ten years. It will require a growth in participation
which has not been seen since the late 1980s and early 1990s when rises in 16-18 participation
and attainment fuelled a rapid increase in higher education participation. During the mid to late
1990s, however, participation and attainment rates for 16-18 year olds have slowed and, in some
cases, plateaued. A similar trend now also appears to be taking place in higher education
participation rates for 18-21 year olds (UCAS 1999).
1 Statistics for higher education participation relate to the UK, hence the scope of the title of the article. However,
statistics related to 16-19 participation and achievement relate to England and Wales or, in some cases, to England
only. Sources listed in the References will provide specific details of scope.