Programme to encourage widening university participation

The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched the Widening Participation (WP) programme to attract more students from comprehensive school backgrounds to universities.

Commenting on the new programme, NUS President Wes Streeting declared that “the NUS is a strong supporter of this Government’s efforts to widen participation in Higher Education and to unlock the talents of every individual. We warmly welcome these recommendations as very practical steps to ensure that people from non-traditional backgrounds are judged on their ability and their potential to succeed.”

Our own Students’ Union has largely adopted the same attitude: “We are strongly in favour of WP as students from backgrounds who do not traditionally go to universities, let alone apply to Russell Group universities such as Warwick, should be given the support to do so if they have the academic potential”, Education Officer Mohammed Surve told the Boar.

Both Robin Naylor and Jeremy Smith, professors within the Economics department, have carried out several studies looking at how well people do at university. More specifically, they considered different factors that might affect students’ performance, including their background and prior education. “Looking at people with the same A-level grades who go to university” they were surprised to find that “people who went to a comprehensive school or state school, rather than a private school, do better at university” Robin Naylor told the Boar.

However, there will be a review of fees for home students over the next few years, a choice that may affect Russell group institutions in particular and act as a deterrent for students from less well off backgrounds. Coupled with graduate jobs being increasingly hard to find due to the economic context, the time might not be right to praise the full benefits of a university degree.

Robin Naylor added, “Our point is that going to university, a bit like investing on the stock market, is a very risky investment, so before you do it you should think very hard about what you want to study, why you want to study, and once you’ve done that make sure you work hard.”

Considering the group targeted by the NUS’ decision, professor Naylor remarked that even though fees may increase over the coming years, the fact that fees are only payable after graduation might offset the negative effect, and not discourage students from going to university. Higher education remains a long term investment, which, as has been proved until now, generally pays off in the end.