Widening participation (WP) in

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

is a major component of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

education policy in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It consists of an attempt to increase not only the numbers of young people entering higher education, but also the proportion from under-represented groups (those from lower income families,

people with disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

and some

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

). In this way it is hoped to redress the inequalities in participation between

social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...

es. Widening participation is one of the strategic objectives of the

Office for Students The Office for Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm ...

(OfS). The issue of widening participation became a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

issue after the Laura Spence Affair which hit the headlines in 2000, and after the

University of Bristol admissions controversy The University of Bristol admissions controversy refers to a historic dispute over the admissions process for the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom which occurred in 2003. The 2003 incident was caused by concerns over bias in the admis ...

in 2003, which concerned alleged biases against and in favour of state schools, respectively. The Office for Students is pursuing this policy through a number of measures, including the payment of financial incentives to

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and by funding the Uni Connect programme. This policy is linked to the previous Labour government's target of increasing participation in higher education to 50% by 2010.

References

External links

Role of the Office for Students (OfS) in promoting equal opportunities in higher educationWidening participation in higher education in England, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC485 Session 2001–2002: 18 January 2002DfES White Paper: The future of Higher Education, 2003HEFCE: Widening participationDfES Higher EducationThe Uni Connect programme, an OfS-funded programme to widen participationAccessHE: Organisation supporting the progression of under-represented groups in London to Higher EducationNational co-ordination team for widening participation in higher educationPure Potential: Independent, national organisation which helps bright students from state schools and colleges with university and careersInto University: an education charity working to promote widening participation.
Higher education in the United Kingdom Educational stages Universities and colleges in the United Kingdom University and college admissions {{UK-edu-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links