Russell Group unis accused of being too exclusive

British universities have been accused of being too exclusive and not trying hard enough to attract students from less advantaged backgrounds.

According to Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), progress with regard to widening the participation of students from poorer backgrounds has only been made by less prestigious universities.

He claimed that in contrast to this, the situation at Russell group institutions has not changed over the last ten years.

32.3 percent of students who have started their degree course at a British university in 2008 come from a manual occupational background.

While Oxford and Cambridge proved to be most exclusive with only 11.5 percent and 12.6 percent of students from less advantaged backgrounds, Warwick is also among the most exclusive universities with 19 percent.

Nonetheless, Warwick outreach programmes like ‘Access for All’, ‘Goal’ and ‘Realising Opportunities’ aim to attract and support students from less advantaged backgrounds by raising awareness of Higher Education in cooperation with schools.

International Press Officer Anna Blackaby pointed out a specific example: “We have one project in particular with a local college – Hereward – which is progressing really well. It is to help students with disabilities design their own living aids using 3D printing. That is coming to fruition at the moment so we will have some concrete results and photographs by the end of January.”

Laura Critchley, second-year History student, benefitted from the support offered by the University.

She said: “Being from a lower income background myself, I would personally say that Warwick is one of the best universities around in terms of financial support for people in my situation.

“I receive both a grant and a fee waiver, meaning that I could afford to come to a university further away in the country without funding being as much of a problem.”

Mr. Bekhradnia said in the HEPI’s annual speech that British universities should follow the lead of US institutions, which explicitly engage in social engineering and are clear that they seek to represent wider society as far as possible in their student population.

This claim is qualified by Ellen Rutherford, third-year Political Science student, who has come to Warwick from the USA as an exchange student. She stressed that the accessibility of US universities largely depends on the type of university, public or private.

Still, she pointed  to advantages: “There are systems in the application process in the US that confer advantages to underprivileged students, like affirmative action and considerable need-based financial aid. For example, my home university covers over 75% of my tuition, which is the only way I can afford to attend.

“Overall, I think there are more opportunities for less advantaged students to get a quality education in the US if only because there is a much wider selection of choices at all academic or financial levels.”