Presentación expuesta durante el III Workshop Internacional sobre Equidad en la Educación Superior organizado por la Cátedra UNESCO de Inclusión en la Ed. Superior (Santiago de Chile, 6 noviembre 2010)

1. SOCIAL INCLUSION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
– THE POST-WAR EXPERIENCE OF THE UK
Dr Jon Cloke

2. A brief look at historical trends in
UK higher education

3. (Source: UK House of Commons, RESEARCH PAPER 99/111, 21 DECEMBER 1999 A Century
of Change: Trends in UK statistics since 1900)

4. (Source: Robertson, 2010)

5. UK GDP growth 1950-2010

6. The growing gap in HE participation rates by social
class from 1960 to 2000…

7. A Snapshot of UK social inclusion
in 2010

8. Class difference: core results for
England, HEFCE (2010)
 OVERALL - % YP in England living in the most
disadvantaged areas entering higher education
increased by around +30 per cent over the past five
years, and by +50 per cent over the past 15 years.
 HOWEVER - Increases in the YP HE participation
rate for most disadvantaged areas greater than the
rises for those living in advantaged areas since the
mid-2000s.
(HEFCE Issues Paper January 2010/03)

9. Trends in young participation by areas of advantage/disadvantage
classified by HE participation rates (HEFCE, 2010)

10. Difference in young participation by sex for disadvantaged areas
(HEFCE, 2010

11. Gender difference: core results for
England, HEFCE (2010)
 YOUNG WOMEN – from (more or less) parity in
1990, more young women likely to enter higher
education than young men – 2010, 40% of young
women enter higher education compared to 32% of
young men;
 270,000 FEWER YOUNG MEN than young women
entered higher education in England as a result of
lower participation rate over past 15 years.

12. Trends in young participation by sex (HEFCE, 2010

13. Minority participation in UK Higher
Education: 2003
(Source: Opportunity Now Research Centre Website,
http://www.opportunitynow.org.uk/research/the_business_
case_for_diversity/the_work_environment/bme_women.html)

14. A Changing Policy Focus

15. Policy on social inclusion: the move to
the market
 Robbins Report (1963): “maximum participation in initial higher
education by young and mature students and in lifetime learning
by adults, having regard to the needs of individuals, the nation
and the future labour market. . .”
 The realisation grew that: “There is no fixed ‘pool’ of potential
students: people respond to opportunities that are
available.” (Patterson, 1997:44)
 Conservative governments 1979-1997 - policies and finance
created significant increase in student numbers; derived from
market-based ideological arguments; social exclusion generally
absent.

16. Policy on Social Inclusion (II)
 Dearing Report 1997 - followed by ‘Our Competitive Future:
Building the Knowledge Driven Economy’ (DTI, 1998) -
universities ‘central engines’ in building new knowledge-
driven economy.
 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) report:
Higher Ambitions (2009): “As a developed country we are
operating at the knowledge frontier. We no longer have the
choice in this globalised world to compete on low wages
and low skills. We compete on knowledge – its creation, its
acquisition, and its transformation into commercially
successful uses (DBIS, 2009: 3).”

17. Factors affecting policy

18. FACTORS ENCOURAGING
PARTICIPATION:
 MAIN FACTOR – belief that HE leads to better
career/job prospects, earnings, job security
 STUDENTS FROM LOWER SE STRATA emphasize
this more than students from higher SE strata, as do
MATURE STUDENTS, STUDENTS FROM
MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS
 OTHER FACTORS – desire for self-improvement,
liking for topic of study
(Connor, H., Dewson, S., Tyers, C., Eccles, J., Regan, J. and Aston, J. (2001) Social Class and
Higher Education: Issues Affecting Decisions on Participation by Lower Social Class Groups,
Institute for Employment Studies, Reseach Report No. 267)

19. FACTORS DISCOURAGING
PARTICIPATION:
 MAIN FACTORS – ALSO employment and finance;
need to start earning immediately, career path not
needing HE qualification.
 DEBT, COST – also important factors; @ half of
students from lower SE strata working during term-
time, but only slightly higher amount than those from
higher SE strata (av. 13-14 hours weekly).
 PERSONAL – coping with academic work, entry
qualifications, application process, personal issues
(child care)
(Connor, H., Dewson, S., Tyers, C., Eccles, J., Regan, J. and Aston, J. (2001) Social Class and
Higher Education: Issues Affecting Decisions on Participation by Lower Social Class Groups,
Institute for Employment Studies, Reseach Report No. 267)

20. OTHER KEY INFLUENCES
 Prior education and family
background (affecting
CONFIDENCE/SELF-CONFIDENCE
levels)
 Issues of SECURITY/INSECURITY -
Students from lower SE strata take
account of a wider range of issues

21. Entry to HE is just the beginning…
 Students from disadvantaged backgrounds more
likely to drop out of courses, forego opportunities for
more advanced courses.
 More likely to follow complicated paths in HE,
deferred enrolment, gap-years and switching,
repeating or restarting their courses for non-
academic reasons.
 A number of different factors lie behind these
difficulties.
(Alasdair Forsyth and Andy Furlong, Socio-economic disadvantage and
experience in higher education, 16 May 2003)

22. Growing problems…..

23. Too successful? The crisis in funding
 UK funding crisis precipitated by rising costs and
student numbers by early 1990s; 1-in-17 attended
university early 1970s, 1-in-3 by the early 1990s.
 Dearing Report: establishment of student fees
around 25% of average cost of a degree course,
system of maintenance loans for students.
 HEIs forced to look ‘beyond the borders of the
national state’ - branch campuses, franchising
programmes, increased enrolment of international
students, developing networks and alliances to
increase access to resources.
(Source: Robertson, S.L. (2010) Globalising UK Higher Education published by the Centre for Learning
and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies at: http://www.llakes.org)

24. Structural imbalances
 SPATIAL: < one in five young people from the most disadvantaged
areas enter higher education, compared to > one in two for the most
advantaged areas.
 SPATIAL/GENDER: - mid-2000s young women > 25 per cent more
likely to enter higher education than young men, rising to >44 per cent
more likely in disadvantaged areas.
 CLASS/INSTITUTIONAL: some UK universities have @ 50% of
students from working class backgrounds, others < 5%.
 OCCUPATION STATUS/INSTITUTIONAL: high status occupations
(medicine, law, dentistry) with strong links to high status institutions
dominated by middle classes distort earnings average re government
‘graduate premium’ (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2007)

25. Some Policy Considerations…
 Does it help to think in terms of barriers to inclusion, if not
processes of exclusion?
 What are the roles of the private and public sector and is it
helpful to think of social inclusion in HE in these archaic terms?
 How is appropriate financial help to be targeted, and who by?
 How does a government overcome inequalities in investment
outcome given links between social class/status and
institutions, labour market and wages (Robertson, 2010).

26.  ILD: nearly 92% of businesses, 76% of rural properties and
65% of the dwellings in 12 Latin American countries
studied are in the informal or “extralegal” sector.
 Dwellings, rural properties and businesses in the informal
or extralegal sector of 12 Latin American countries are worth
more than $1.2 trillion – Hernando de Soto refers to this as
“dead capital”.
 What part does lack of access to higher
education play in maintaining this situation?
 What can governments of the region do
about “dead” educational capital and the
subsequent loss of social/economic capital?
(Sources: The Multilateral Investment Fund, Microscope on the Microfinance Business
Environment in Latin America 2007, IADB Press Release June 12, 2006)
Some Latin American Considerations….