NUS: higher education participation rates are "a damning indictment of government policy"

Embargoed until 00.01, Thursday 5 June 2008

In response to the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s publication of UK Performance Indicators in Higher Education today, NUS President Gemma Tumelty said:

"These figures show that, after the government introduced top-up fees, participation rates in higher education went down across the board. In England, for example, the number of people entering higher education went down by over 15,000 from 2005/6 to 2006/7.

"The government will want to pull the wool over our eyes by pointing to the miniscule percentage increase in entrants from lower socio-economic backgrounds. But if you look more closely at the actual figures, the number of poorer students entering higher education in England went down by 4,190.

"These figures are a damning indictment of government policy. By introducing market forces into the higher education sector, they are pricing thousands of people out of entering university and fulfilling their potential."

Notes to editors

• The HESA statistics show that the number of UK full-time undergraduate entrants fell from 385,625 to 369,305 from 2005/6 to 2006/7
• The number of full-time undergraduate entrants in England fell from 318,330 to 303,105
• The number of UK full-time undergraduate entrants from state schools fell from 249,355 to 241,115
• The number of full-time undergraduate entrants from state schools fell from 203,700 to 195,915 in England
• The number of UK full-time undergraduate entrants from lower socio-economic backgrounds fell from 213,740 to 208,905
• The number of full-time undergraduate entrants from lower socio-economic backgrounds fell from 175,660 to 171,470 in England.

NUS Press Office: 020 7380 6604