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<p>Widening participation to Higher Education (HE) is a priority for this government.
Everyone with the capability to succeed in HE should have the opportunity to benefit
from a university education, regardless of background or where they grew up.</p><p>This
year, record rates of English 18 year olds, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds,
have entered full-time university. However, more could and should be done. That is
why, in our first guidance to the Office for Students, we asked them to encourage
providers, particularly the most selective, to make further progress in ensuring that
disadvantaged and underrepresented students can access, participate and succeed in
HE.</p><p>A new transparency condition will require HE providers to publish application,
offer, acceptance, non-continuation and attainment rates by socio-economic background,
gender and ethnicity. This will provide greater transparency and help drive fairness
on admissions and outcomes.</p><p>Prior attainment is a critical driver of access
to HE and the government has asked HE providers to take on a more direct role in helping
to raise attainment in schools as part of their outreach activity. All universities
are expected to help raise attainment and support school improvement, including through
school sponsorship and by establishing new state schools.</p><p>The National Collaborative
Outreach Programme (NCOP) targets those areas of the country where progression into
HE is both low overall and lower than expected (given typical GCSE attainment rates),
in order to increase the number of young people from under-represented groups who
go into higher education.</p><p>The department’s Opportunity Areas initiative is part
of the government’s national plan for dealing with social mobility through education.
The government expects universities to actively engage in these areas, to tackle local
barriers.</p><p>In addition, the department launched Opportunity North East – a £24
million investment to drive rapid and sustainable improvements in education, to tackle
the key issues holding young people back. We will challenge the most selective institutions
to do more to increase the number of young people from the region.</p>
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