Using contextual data to widen access to higher education

Boliver, V.; Gorard, S.; Siddiqui, N.

doi:10.1080/13603108.2019.1678076

Using contextual data to widen access to higher education

Boliver, V.; Gorard, S.; Siddiqui, N.

Authors

Professor Vikki Boliver vikki.boliver@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Stephen Gorard s.a.c.gorard@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Nadia Siddiqui nadia.siddiqui@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of an ESRC funded project that contributes to the evidence base underpinning contextualised approaches to undergraduate admissions in England. We show that the bolder use of reduced entry requirements for disadvantaged learners is necessary if ambitious new widening access targets set by the Office for Students (OfS) are to be achieved. We demonstrate empirically that academic entry requirements for disadvantaged learners can be reduced substantially without setting these students up to fail at university. We also show that the use of area level measures to identify contextually disadvantaged learners – including the OfS's preferred measure, POLAR – runs a high risk of failure to reach the intended beneficiaries of contextualised admissions policies. We argue strongly in favour of the use of administratively verified individual level metrics to identify contextually disadvantaged learners, most notably receipt of free school meals and low household income.

Citation

Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2021). Using contextual data to widen access to higher education. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 25(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2019.1678076

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 5, 2019
Online Publication Date	Oct 17, 2019
Publication Date	2021
Deposit Date	Oct 11, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Mar 3, 2021
Journal	Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education
Print ISSN	1360-3108
Electronic ISSN	1460-7018
Publisher	Association of University Administrators
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	25
Issue	1
Pages	7-13
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2019.1678076

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Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.