Colleges and universities no longer required to spend set amount of tuition fee income to support disadvantaged students. Major changes to rules around what colleges and universities have to spend on widening participation are on the way. Previously, higher education institutions charging more than £6,000 for courses had to establish an access agreement with the former Office for Fair Access (Offa). Following a recent consultation, the Office for Students (OfS), the new higher educatio...

The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator, has today challenged all universities to eliminate the gaps in access and student success within 20 years. Following a consultation process, the OfS has set itself ambitious targets to achieve equality of opportunity in higher education, and will now expect universities, colleges and other higher education providers to set their own individual plans and targets to work towards these during the next five years. Read More.  

Universities must do more to safeguard students’ mental health by contacting the families of those experiencing problems, Education Secretary Damian Hinds has said. Mr Hinds wrote to Professor Julia Buckingham, who chairs a Universities UK (UUK) round table on mental health, urging her to “explore the issue and identify a clear way forward”. On Tuesday UUK, which represents 137 universities in the UK, is bringing together university leaders, mental health experts and students to discuss the circ...

Widening access and participation is not enough to tackle social exclusion in the world’s universities, an international conference marking the first World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) heard from representatives from all corners of the globe. “You also need to offer psychological support to students coming through the access route because they can struggle with many problems during their time at university,” a Latin American vice rector told the Beyond Borders conference hosted by Asto...

Some universities are recruiting students with unconditional offers during the application process, says the university admissions service Ucas. They are telling students that A-level grade requirements will be dropped completely if they put the university down as their first choice. It comes as new Ucas figures show one-third of applicants aged 18 received an unconditional offer last year. Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the proportion was "disturbing". He added: "The systematic...

The Global Equity Policy Map represents a first attempt to build an international database on national equity policies in higher education. The first report looking at these policies “All around the world – Higher education equity policies across the globe” contains information on each country obtained by consulting official websites, official documents, academic publications and the advice of government officials or academics. Read More.

Elite universities are all but failing to increase access for disadvantaged pupils, according to a study published by the public services thinktank Reform. In the past five years, the average annual increase in the proportion of disadvantaged students at each of 29 elite universities has been less than 1 per cent. "According to Ucas, more 18-year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are entering higher education than ever before, with an increase of 78 per cent since 2006 for the most disadvantag...

A reduction in tuition fees would make it harder for disadvantaged students to go to university, according to a group of funding charities. A post-18 education commission, set up by Theresa May, is reported to be considering recommending fees be cut to £6,500 from the current £9,250. At the moment universities are required to set aside part of their income to help students from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds enter higher education. That works out at about £860m for this year. But six charitie...

Too many graduates in England are being left with big debts for too little payback, MPs are warning. Nearly half of recent graduates were not working in graduate roles in 2017, the Commons education committee says. Its chairman Robert Halfon also highlights the excessive pay of some university vice-chancellors, saying that is not value for money. The government is reviewing post-18 education and funding to see how it can ensure that value. The Augur Review, which is due to report early...