More teenagers from poor homes going to uni
Today's report reveals that young women are still far more likely to go to university than young men
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 28, Jan 2010 12:28
By Alex Plough
More male students from England's poorest areas are going into higher education, but the wealthiest are still three times more likely to get a place at university, a new study has shown.
The report, published today by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), shows that the most disadvantaged teenagers are 50 per cent more likely to go to university than 15 years ago.
The number of entrants from privileged backgrounds has also increased from 50 per cent in 1994 to 57 per cent today, much higher than the 19 per cent of the poorest students set to attend University in 2010.
The results will come as welcome news for the government after Wednesday's Hills report found Britain had become a more unequal nation under New Labour.
Today's study revealed the number of young men going to university is increasing at the same rate as for young women for the first time in 15 years, although female students still outnumber male ones.
Between 1994 and 2004 young women were far more likely to go to university than their male classmates. Over the ten year period, there were 15,000 additional female entrants compared to fewer than 1,000 male entrants.
The figures show that the number of young people entering higher education has risen steadily from the mid-1990s. In 2010 there will be an estimated 239,000 young university entrants, 77,000 more than the number in 1994 and representing an increase of nearly 50 per cent.
Although the study did not attempt to find out the specific reasons for the rise in university students, it did suggest several contributing factors including investment secondary school education, more university courses, financial support for students and changes to the tuition fees system.
John Selby, director for education and participation at HEFCE, said: "These results are very significant.
"They show a substantial increase in the participation rate of those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with, recently, a narrowing of the gap between them and those from the most advantaged backgrounds. It is also encouraging that the gap in participation between men and women, which once appeared to be growing inexorably, seems to have stopped widening in recent years."
He added: "Nevertheless, the participation differences between the most advantaged and least advantaged, and between women and men, remain very large. We must continue to work on these issues but can be encouraged by the recent progress."