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<p>Widening access and participation in higher education (HE) is a priority for the
government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in HE should have
the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background.</p><p>The government
has made progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged
18 year olds in HE. However, we are aware that more needs to be done to support access
and participation in HE, so it is vital that we continue to build on this progress.</p><p>HE
providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage and
under-representation in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation
in HE.</p><p>We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage
and under-representation, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as
Participation of Local Areas data, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school
data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's
(UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure and participation in outreach activities. The department
is continuing to work with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives
to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to
data.</p><p> </p>
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