Widening opportunity in higher education is about more than access

A number of universities in Scotland have either already met or are on course to meet the national widening participation target for 2030. The target, set by the Commission on Widening Access (CoWA), is for 20 per cent of university entrants to be from the most deprived areas of Scotland, as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).

But measuring widening participation in higher education through access data alone may be a classic example of “hitting the target but missing the point”.

Despite its merits in some contexts, the SIMD has been widely discredited as a tool for measuring widening access to higher education. The need has been recognised for a basket of measures that reflects the circumstances of the individual rather than their postcode: measures such as their parents’ income levels and whether they are eligible for free school meals. But there is no sign as yet of this recognition being acted on by the Scottish government, and the SIMD remains one of the measurements of choice in the outcome agreements between each university in Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Moreover, the outcome agreements – and, indeed, the discourse more widely – miss several tricks. They pay little attention to retention, progression and completion data, even though these factors arguably reflect much better the work that individual academics and university teams undertake to help students fulfil their potential and take their rightful, productive place in society.

At Glasgow Caledonian University, we are proud to enrol high proportions of students from the most deprived backgrounds. But we are equally proud of our retention level of 92.8 per cent for students from the lowest SIMD areas, compared with a sector average of 90.2 cent.

If we are to fully understand the impact universities have, outcomes must be articulated alongside our ability to raise the aspirations of those from our poorest communities. There are few other sectors where so much attention would be paid to inputs without fully assessing the outputs and outcomes.

Even when we think solely about access, the CoWA measures tell only a fraction of the success story that is widening participation in Scottish higher education. There is little reference to access for care-experienced students, for example, despite it being a national measure. Mature and part-time students are rarely mentioned either; indeed, one of the key measures in CoWA concentrates on young, full-time, first-degree undergraduates. Nor is there a national measurement for widening participation at postgraduate level, for either taught or research students, while the rise of graduate apprenticeships was until recently not even part of the SFC’s purview.

Modern universities teach the vast majority of widening access students in Scotland, with other universities showing a varied picture, from largely static to some growth towards meeting the target. Central to our mission, “For The Common Good”, and to our Strategy 2030, our commitment to widening participation at Glasgow Caledonian is long-standing. We have had success in delivering transformative education at scale (with almost 1000 students). Part of that success is grounded in our whole-systems approach; as well as facilitating articulation from colleges, we also partner with nurseries, primary and secondary schools, as in our award-winning Caledonian Club and Advanced Higher Hub.

Despite how it sometimes feels, however, widening participation should not be a competition. SIMD quintiles are not well distributed across the country, especially in rural districts, so it is challenging for some universities to substantially increase their intakes of lowest-quintile students. A much more effective strategy would be to allow all 19 of Scotland’s diverse higher education institutions to play to their strengths, rather than holding them accountable to the same blanket targets.

As we emerge from the pandemic, we find that our communities are facing the most challenging of times. This adds even greater importance to supporting what universities contribute to the social and economic prosperity of Scotland and to developing global citizens of the future. For that, we need to build on the work of Sir Peter Scott, Scotland’s Commissioner for Fair Access, and develop a much more accurate picture of current university participation. And we need targets that reflect the full breadth of what still needs to be done.

James Miller is deputy vice-chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University.