FOI/202600523598 · FOI · unclear
Fair access to Higher Education in the Scottish context - request for list of under-represented groups: FOI release
Information requested
"Please will you tell me your definition of under-represented groups, for the purposes of regulation of fair access?
Please will you tell me if you consider commuter students at all in regulation, or widening participation activity?"
Response
In your email you ask two questions and I will respond to these in turn.
“Please will you tell me your definition of under-represented groups, for the purposes of regulation of fair access?”
Scotland does not have a further or higher education regulator equivalent to the Office for Students and as such the Scottish Government does not produce a list of under-represented groups for the purposes of regulation of fair access. The Scottish Funding Council is the non-departmental public body with responsibility for providing funding to colleges and universities and which holds colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. The Scottish Funding Council can provide further detail on their own outcome and assurance processes and their definitions of under-represented groups therein.
More broadly, there are currently national fair access targets in place which were recommended by the Commission on Widening Access (CoWA) in 2015 and accepted in full by Scottish Ministers. These targets focus on learners from the 20% most deprived areas according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Also following a recommendation of the CoWA, care-experienced learners are considered a priority group with regards to contextual admissions at Scottish higher education institutions and receive a guarantee of an offer of a place at university if they meet the minimum entry requirements.
As autonomous institutions, universities are able to set their own admissions criteria, including which under-represented groups they wish to target as part of contextual admissions processes.
“Please will you tell me if you consider commuter students at all in regulation, or widening participation activity?”
Commuter students are not currently a focus of the Scottish Government with regards to fair access. Some universities will consider students from remote or rural areas as a priority group for their particular locality. There may therefore be individuals who have to commute longer distances to reach a further or higher education institution captured in these groups.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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