Colleges and universities should offer tailored pastoral support, guarantee year-round accommodation and take into account life experiences in the admissions process to improve support for students who have been in care, the Office for Students (OfS) has said.
A new report published today by the OfS, called Consistency Needed, concludes that there are significant equality gaps for students who have been in care compared with their peers. Data shows care-experienced students are much more likely not to continue to a second year, to take longer than three years to complete their degree, and not to gain a 2:1 or higher.
The report also highlights concerns that the impact of Covid-19 may exacerbate inequalities for care-experienced students and others who are without family support.
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Bryony Toon, a law student at the University of Oxford and OfS student panellist, has experienced care and called for more consistent support for students like her.
She said: “There should be a single contact you can go to and stay with through the process of getting into university and while there.
“There needs to be information and support for students who have been in care that is consistent across universities and colleges. There is support available like bursaries and access schemes, but universities need to make sure students know about them. I have been lucky with my university in terms of financial support, but I have friends who have not been so well supported.”
Call for ‘consistent’ support for care-experienced students in colleges
The OfS has proposed an expansion of the student data collected to include a broader group of applicants with experience of care, and will work with the Centre for Transforming Access and Outcomes in higher education (TASO) to improve the sharing of effective practice.
The OfS has also commissioned the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) to research what a consistent offer of support could look like, with recommendations including year-round accommodation provided by universities and colleges with their own residences, priority access to pastoral and financial support, admissions processes that take a rounded view of applicants’ experiences and challenges, and pre-entry advice, careers guidance and continued support after graduation.
Chris Millward, OfS director for fair access and participation, said: “While there are a number of excellent examples of support for students who have been in care, our analysis is still showing stark disparities in outcomes for this group. We know that the proportion of care-experienced students entering into higher education remains substantially lower than their rest of the population, and our data shows that they continue to face barriers even once they get there.
“To mitigate this, we are calling for a consistent approach to support across the sector. Higher education is a transformative experience, and universities and colleges must do all they can to ensure that it is accessible for all.”
