One in three undergraduate students enter university for the first-time when they are over 21 – not that you would notice given the obsession of both media and politicians with younger students progressing to university straight from school or college at 18 or 19. This focus on younger students has been put into even sharper relief in the debate about the next Director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) – now confirmed by ministers as Professor Les Ebdon, former chair of million+ and currently Vice- Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire. Ebdon (and, at various points, his university) have been relentlessly attacked by political Review of higher education: in spite of the expansion of higher education and rising levels of attainment in schools, one in seven students admitted by these universities now come from less advantaged backgrounds compared to the one in six admitted 15 years ago. In suggesting that these institutions should aim for an intake similar to that achieved in the mid-1990s, Ebdon opened a floodgate of anxiety amongst Conservative backbenchers concerned that this would lead to the dumbing down of ‘prestigious’ institutions. Within days four Conservative MPs had set up a Fair Access to Universities Group (FAUG) and published a report which essentially repeated the mantra University isn’t just for young people For those who really care about social mobility, it is the decline in applications by mature students, and not the appointment of Les Ebdon as Director of OFFA, that should be setting alarm bells ringing, says PAM TATLOW commentators – wisely, education journalists had somewhat less to say – for daring to suggest that the Director of OFFA might use the powers already available under the 2004 Higher Education Act to set more demanding targets for some universities. The universities that Ebdon (and ministers) have in mind overwhelmingly recruit younger full-time students. The figures quoted at a pre-appointment hearing of the House of Commons BIS Committee are revealing, and had been quoted by the outgoing Director of OFFA, Sir Martin Harris, to the Browne that the fault lay with (state) schools and the subject choice of students. For those interested in ensuring that people of all ages have opportunities for learning and progression, this emphasis on younger students is depressing. It also completely ignores the diversity of the student profile that is one of the features of UK higher education and which has been a key factor in promoting social mobility. Many of the students with whom FAUG is interested will progress to university anyway (although perhaps not to the universities which these MPs apparently value). In fact, the
18 ADULTS LEARNING SPRING 2012
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