This country’s education system has long been a cause for pride among Scots. The lad o’ pairts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though perhaps more of a romantic ideal than a widespread reality, embodied the notion that this was a country where those of humble origins could hope for advancement on merit.
Where once Scotland’s poor were agricultural labourers or mill workers, today they are the deprived of post-industrial communities, places where the young feel they have no opportunities, unemployment is rife and food banks plug the gaps where low wages and benefits fall short.
Education should provide an escape from this way of life for modern day lads, and lassies, o’ pairts. But the latest figures on how many young people from the most deprived communities attend university show that far too often, the doors of our higher education institutions remain firmly shut in their faces.
In 2014/15 just 10.8 per cent of students in Scottish higher education were from the poorest areas compared to 10.4 per cent the previous year – progress that is frankly negligible. A third of universities, including serial offender St Andrews, actually saw the proportion of pupils from the poorest areas drop.
Disappointing? That would be putting it mildly. A great deal has been done to help universities do better. It is a Scottish Government priority. There have been written agreements, an extra £10m in funding and a great deal of creative thinking, but to very little benefit.
Universities often argue that they can only recruit those with the right qualifications and that even if allowances are made for children from deprived areas, there is a limit to what they can do. Certainly schools have a role to play in widening university access by helping able children reach their academic potential.
But universities cannot pass the buck. If current methods to improve access are not working, new ways forward must be considered. The Scottish Government’s Widening Access Commission is soon to issue its final report and is expected to advocate radical measures for getting more poor youngsters into higher education. That report cannot come soon enough.
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