HEFCE statement on Access Agreements

HEFCE statement

OFFA access agreements

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) today welcomes the announcement by the Office of Fair Access (OFFA) that access agreements have been approved for 141 universities and colleges in England (Note 1).

OFFA's announcement states that by 2015-16, universities and colleges are planning to invest over £600 million of their fee income in measures designed to increase participation and improve success in higher education of those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Heather Fry, Director for Education and Participation, HEFCE, said:

'We are pleased that OFFA and institutions wishing to charge more than £6,000 in fees have finalised their access agreements. The really important thing will be the impact these arrangements have on students and widening participation in the future.'

OFFA decisions

2012-13 access agreements Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

The Office for Fair Access announced today (Tuesday, 12 July 2011) that English universities and colleges charging above £6,000 for their courses plan to boost their spending on access measures to £602 million a year by 2015-16 [1].

After negotiation, OFFA has approved 2012-13 Access Agreements for 139 institutions – 123 higher education institutions and 16 further education colleges[2]. Under the agreements universities and colleges plan to increase investment in access measures to £602 million a year by 2015-16, up from £407 million in 2011-12. This figure rises to £738 million a year when the Government’s contribution to the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) [3] is included.

Access measures cover a broad range of activities including outreach activities to raise aspirations and attainment, financial support such as fee waivers, bursaries and scholarships, and measures to improve retention.

Announcing OFFA’s decisions, Sir Graeme Davies, Director of Fair Access, said:

“Our assessment of the Access Agreements submitted to us has been a thoroughly rigorous and robust process. In some cases we were unhappy with the first draft we received but institutions responded positively and after a period of scrutiny and negotiation 139 Access Agreements now meet our conditions.

“These Agreements represent a considerable commitment by universities and colleges to improving access for students who are under-represented in higher education and where appropriate, improving retention and student success.

“I am particularly pleased by the planned additional annual investment of £50 million in outreach activities to raise aspirations and attainment among potential applicants from under-represented groups.

“We consider that long-term, targeted outreach is key to widening participation and fair access and in our guidance we asked institutions to increase their efforts in this area. Outreach includes activities such as summer schools, working closely with schools to raise pupils’ aspirations and attainment, mentoring, and advice and guidance for pupils.

“Looking ahead, we will want to monitor the impact of the new arrangements very carefully. From 2012-13, Access Agreements will have to be approved on an annual basis and this will be important in allowing us to respond quickly to any changes in student behaviour.

“For now, however, it is absolutely essential that the sector works together and pulls out all the stops to communicate the financial support available so that no one is put off applying to university for financial reasons.”

Some of the Agreements did not meet OFFA's requirements on level of investment.

In some cases, the targets set by universities were not considered sufficiently stretching. OFFA subsequently negotiated with 52 institutions – 25 on both targets and spend, 22 on targets only and five on spend only. These negotiations resulted in significant improvements in targets and an additional investment of £21 million in access measures.

Analysis of institutions’ investment in access measures shows that by 2015-16 universities and colleges will be spending £602 million representing 27% of their fee income above the basic level of £6,000. This consists of:

•£414 million on financial support of which £69 million is in fee waivers
•£106 million a year on additional outreach
•£82 million a year on activities to improve student retention and success
Institutions will provide a further £136 million[4] in financial support to students through the Government’s contribution to the National Scholarship Programme (NSP).

Source OFFA web site