ANNOUNCING her recent programme for government, the First Minister talked about how the education measures contained within it would provide more and better opportunities for youngsters at every stage in the system, from pre-school to higher education, especially those from poorer backgrounds.
Ms Sturgeon often talks about her commitment to closing the attainment gap between the wealthiest children and their counterparts from the most deprived areas, indeed she has staked her very reputation upon it.
New data from the Scottish Funding Council on the numbers of young people from poor backgrounds going to university highlight just how difficult this will be to achieve, however.
The Commission for Widening Access set up by the Scottish Government wants 20 per cent of such children to go to university by 2030, and though the numbers are rising, it is not happening quickly.
In 2014-15, 14.7 per cent of university students came from the poorest backgrounds, up from 11.6 per cent in 2009-10. In 2015-16, however, the level rose only very marginally to 14.8 per cent. If the interim 16 per cent target is to be met by 2021, progress will have to hasten.
To this end, Shirley-Anne Somerville, the minister in charge of higher education, stressed the need to “go further, faster”, saying universities and colleges needed to do more to implement all the Commission’s recommendations. It will certainly be interesting to see whether the measures make a difference.
On the back of the figures, Ms Somerville was right to highlight the fact that over a third of those leaving further education with a qualification go on to university, demonstrating the important role colleges play in feeding higher education institutions.
A new report by the respected Fraser of Allander Institute, meanwhile, demonstrates the contribution colleges make to the wider Scottish economy. The economic body put the figure at £20 billion, representing a boost of £55,000 per graduate throughout their working lives. With this in mind, it is crucial that we give colleges the funding they need to help our people progress in life, whether that is to a place at university or a job.
Interestingly, Ms Somerville did not choose to highlight another statistic in the Funding Council figures, one that suggests 30 per cent of students from the poorest backgrounds drop out of further education.
Universities are better at retaining young people, but since the rate of drop-out among those from deprived areas is twice that of their more affluent peers, there is certainly no room there for complacency.
All these latest figures remind us that progress is hard to make when it comes to closing the attainment gap. But they should also make us think about the wider education landscape, too, and while widening student access is important, we should ensure we do not take our eye off the ball when it comes to retention.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here