"The case for harnessing all available talent is unassailable. The best and brightest are the lifeblood of any university, while a highly skilled workforce makes for a more competitive economy and a more cohesive society"
Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
08 April 2009
Check against delivery
Good morning, everyone.
I want to focus today on some of the major challenges that university admissions officers and UCAS currently face.
But before I do so, it's worth making two points.
The first is a simple one, but it's a reminder of the principle and ambition which we unite around.
We know what a university education does for people. The great majority of parents want their children to get a degree, and this is not a case of mums and dads twisting arms. Those children also appreciate the value of HE – the life-changing experience on offer.
At an institutional level – and so far as the country is concerned – the case for harnessing all available talent is unassailable, in both economic and moral terms. The best and brightest are the lifeblood of any university, while a highly skilled workforce makes for a more competitive economy and a more cohesive society.
So that's point one; that's why we're all here. Point two is all about recognising what we've already achieved in the course of the past decade – the changes introduced in universities and at the centre, and the enormous impact they've had. The huge increase in outreach work with schools and colleges. The creation of the Office of Fair Access and Aimhigher. The reintroduction of grants, the rising take-up of bursaries.
And the result?
Student numbers have risen by almost 350,000 since 1997, while funding per student has been maintained.
One third of eligible students this year will receive a full grant, and a further third will get a partial grant. That's an extra 50,000 on a full grant and another 50,000 on a partial grant.
And the final figures for 2008 entry show that accepted applicants from England were up by 7.4 per cent, with those aged 18 and under from the lower socio-economic groups also increasing.
But here comes the predictable but. You know just as well as I do that children from low income backgrounds still face significant barriers in making it into higher education. Of those who come in the top 20 per cent of test results at age 11, children eligible for free school meals are around half as likely to attend university as those who don't qualify.
We must push on with the policies and programmes that have already made headway. And we must explore fresh ways of tackling those barriers.
In January this year, HEFCE issued guidance to universities on how to bring together their widening participation and fair access policies – including transparent admissions systems – into a single document.
The purpose here simple is not to impose a new burden on the HE sector, but to address the issue of public confidence and to take some of the heat out of the recurrent controversy over admissions.
These assessments provide the opportunity for each university to set out a comprehensive strategy of everything it is doing in this area. They represent a major step towards what we’ve all been calling for years – real openness and transparency in admissions policies.
I'm grateful to HEFCE and OFFA for leading this work, of course, but also to the many people across the sector who've supported them. I now hope that universities genuinely embrace this chance to shine a light on admissions and demonstrate that fairness is a matter of deeds as well as words.
February saw the Government publish its implementation plan in response to the work of the National Council for Educational Excellence – led by Steve Smith from Exeter – on improving the learning outcomes for young people.
Which brings me to the substance of my speech today – those major tasks ahead of us – for one recurring theme of the implementation plan is information, advice and guidance, IAG for short.
That’s hardly surprising, because we’ve come increasingly to recognise just how important it is for young people to receive the right information – at the right time – in terms of raising and then fulfilling their own aspirations.
This is clearly an area where Government action is needed to drive progress faster. So I am currently working with Sarah McCarthy-Fry at DCSF on an IAG strategy, which we intend to publish later this year.
The strategy will set out how we will improve the IAG that young people receive on careers, learning and personal issues – progression to higher education included.
What's abundantly clear at this stage is the need to define what good information, advice and guidance looks like – what any young person and their parents should expect from their school or college.
A whole-school approach to IAG is vital: supporting young people to make decisions that will impact on their later learning and career options has to be central to a school's mission.
And that, in turn, means a well-equipped workforce, with ready access to high-quality materials and professional training.
Universities can be important partners for schools and colleges in every one of these areas – ensuring that more young people who would not otherwise do so aim for a place at our most selective institutions; that more persevere with subjects like science, which will be increasingly required in the jobs of the future.
At the same time, we will issue statutory guidance for local authorities on providing high-quality IAG. And for schools, we have already set out the principles underpinning the duty to deliver impartial careers education through the Education and Skills Act 2008.
But I’ve said before, and it bears repeating, that if guidance only starts when a child goes to secondary school, it could be too late. In fact, it’s never too early for children to develop a realistic understanding of what their options in life will be.
So DIUS is also working with DCSF and other partners on raising awareness of HE among primary schools through the various professional networks that exist already. And I've already agreed with DCSF and HEFCE to pilot a simple process for helping primary schools get support to offer children some early experience of what universities are like.
But if we return to the interests of older pupils, and the bread and butter work of university admissions tutors, I know that you have concerns in terms of 14-19 curriculum reforms.
One of them is about the use of the A* grade at A-level in the application process. And on this matter the UCAS Board, and the National Council for Educational Excellence under the leadership of Professor Steve Smith, has recommended that the Government collect and review data on the predictability of A* before universities start to require it. We have committed to undertake that review.
This surely makes sense. Indeed, this recommendation follows concerns widely voiced across the HE sector itself about the significant changes being made to A levels.
Academic rigour is a clearly defining feature of our higher education system – the results of the recent RAE exercise have demonstrated the strength and depth of the research taking place across our higher education sector. This strength is due in no small part to the importance that the academic community rightly attaches to making decisions on the basis of strong and consistent evidence.
It is a shame, therefore, that certain research-intensive universities have made the decision to use predicted A* grades in their application process, before this review has taken place.
This goes back to the importance of fairness and transparency in retaining public confidence. That confidence will be undermined – and the sometimes corrosive debate on widening participation inflamed – if talented young people are rejected, only to find that their peers are accepted as near misses, thanks to more optimistic predictions but not achievement.
More broadly, I think it can only be right that actual achievement is rewarded. But for as long as our applications process relies on predicted grades in making offers, or turning candidates down, then we – and you – need assurances that A* grades can be predicted accurately.
I know that many of you are also looking closely at the new 14-19 Diplomas and at developing your entry profiles as the new Diploma courses come on line. I strongly encourage you to continue that work.
The new Diplomas should appeal to a wider range of young people who want to continue to developing their skills to a higher level, people who themselves bring with them new skills and new expectations to higher education.
Now I know that it’s not going to be easy to bring this about. Last year, my colleague Jim Knight described the introduction of Diplomas as the largest educational reform being carried out anywhere in the world. It undoubtedly requires concerted effort from Government, schools, exam boards and others.
Higher education, too, has a key role to play. For universities – as, I think, most have already recognised – this is both a challenge and an opportunity. A challenge that I urge you to meet, and an opportunity I urge you to grasp.
One last point before I take questions and listen to your feedback – and that's to do with clearing.
This is a vital part of the applications process – one whose significance is likely to grow in line with applications. More than 30,000 people gain a university place during clearing every year. Not just students who didn't get the grades they needed, but many others who change their mind or who, for personal reasons, want a change of tack.
So again, I return to the importance of effective IAG and of public trust. Schools and colleges have to support young people facing the prospect of clearing so that they understand what's on offer at a wide range of universities and beyond – by taking an advanced apprenticeship, for example. Those same universities, as I've already stressed can support schools in that respect, and can only benefit from being open about the methods they adopt during the clearing season.
I began this speech with a statement that no-one could reasonably dispute – about the power and value of HE. Let me end with another. Change in university admissions is happening. Indeed, it’s been happening for years.
Young people today stand twice as good a chance of getting to university than they did in my day. But if change has been constant, it has also been slow.
I believe we can do more and we can do it faster, if we do it together.
Thank you.
