7th November 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A new study has revealed that students from London are 43% more likely to go to university than students in the north-east of England. The report, published by the Higher Education Funding Council, shows that the gap between these areas is growing, with Londoners taking an increasingly disproportionate number of the university places available. The council has been studying the changing trends of young people entering higher education in England between 1998 and 1999 and 2011 and 2012. The study also revealed that generally more people are going to university, which the number of young people being accepted rising from 30% to 38%.
One of the factors examined was the gender gap, which had also widened with women more likely to go to university. The gender gap in the 1990s was 3%, and has now risen to 12%, with the gap widening in poorer areas. Where students came from poorer backgrounds, women were 35% more likely to take up a university place. The study concluded that the gap in university entry between students from wealthier and poorer backgrounds is as wide as it was in the 1990s, although the trends in gender and region have shifted. The fact remains that, in order to match the participation rate of their wealthier counterparts, young people in disadvantaged areas would need to be three times as likely as they are now to go to university.
Whilst the gap remains the same over all, the study did show some significant changes in trends amongst the backgrounds of university applicants. Over the years the number of students from London going on to university has increased dramatically, with the proportion rising from 35% to 48% in ten years. In the 1990s, students from poorer areas of London were the least likely in the country to attend university, but they are now the top of the regional league table. 23% of students from the poorer areas of London now enter higher education, a rate which is considerably higher than their counterparts in the east of the country and those from former industrial towns. Reviewing the report, the Office for Fair Access has welcome the increase in numbers of students participating in higher education, but said that more needed to be done to narrow the gap between the most and least disadvantaged students.