Commenting on the findings in the 2017 UCAS Undergraduate
End of Cycle Report Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the
Sutton Trust, said:
“We welcome a small but significant narrowing of the gap between
the most and least advantaged groups of 18 year-olds accessing
our most selective universities. This is helped in part by the
work of Sutton Trust summer schools. However, at 9.8 times, the
gap remains wide. So we need to do more to widen opportunities
for talented teenagers to access our best universities, and the
careers that they lead to. This should include more use of
contextual admissions to benefit less advantaged students.
Contrary to what would be expected our research has shown that a
fifth of more advantaged students receive lower offers.
“It is also welcome that there are continued improvements in the
proportion of disadvantaged pupils entering higher education.
However, among the most disadvantaged, the gap has not improved
for three years. The numbers of working class boys going to
university still remains very low. It is vital that the
government restores maintenance grants and introduces means
tested tuition fees, as well as greatly expanding alternative
routes to higher education through higher and degree
apprenticeships.”
1. The Sutton Trust is a
foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility
through education. It has published over 200 research studies and
funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of
thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through
to access to the professions.
2. The full report will be published on
the Ucas website.
