Rural Aspiration: IntoUniversity produces new report funded by Cabinet Office

Some of the lowest rates of participation in Higher Education are found in rural, coastal and dispersed areas. The Cabinet Office Social Action Fund recently funded IntoUniversity to commission a report on access to Higher Education in these areas.

The report explores the reasons behind low rates of participation in Higher Education in rural, coastal and dispersed communities, as well as the challenges and opportunities for any widening participation programme aiming to combat the problem.

We found that some of the key reasons for low rates of participation in Higher Education in rural, coastal and dispersed communities are:

• the geographical distance to cities where universities are found - and consequent lack of knowledge about university life

• a mistrust of outside intervention

• social and cultural attitudes towards Higher Education

Delivering widening participation programmes in rural, coastal and dispersed areas would present several challenges, particularly in securing funding: there is currently a bias towards funding urban projects and work in rural areas would incur higher costs.

Any intervention would also need to be carefully targeted, given the close mixture of affluence and deprivation often seen in rural, coastal and dispersed communities.

More positively, the report highlights that there is growing interest in the problem of widening participation in these locations at a national level, with a number of think tanks and education charities such as Teach First and The Bridge Group examining the issue and devising potential responses. 

To read our report on rural aspiration in full, please click here.

IntoUniversity
www.intouniversity.org

Cabinet Office
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office