Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2015-12-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how they will assess higher education institutions to determine whether they are delivering effective outcomes for widening access and social mobility.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Universities wishing to charge higher fees must agree Access Agreements with the independent Director of Fair Access, showing what more they will do to widen access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These Access Agreements include measures and benchmarks for success, in line with the universities’ own particular mission and challenges.
The Director of Fair Access monitors the performance of Universities against their targets and provides a report each year on the progress that has been made.
The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.
