Report: Tackling HE access and outcomes gaps requires a fresh approach to collaboration
A new report analysing the Access and Participation Plans (APPs) of higher education providers in London has identified a reduction in efforts to address systemic barriers to equality of opportunity following recent changes to regulation.
The report, A Risk Shared: Developing a Regional Approach for Addressing Risks to Equality of Access to Higher Education, which was produced by London South Bank University (LSBU) in partnership with London Higher, reviews the APPs of 43 London-based institutions. It examines how they are responding to the risks set out in the Office for Students’ (OfS) Equality of Opportunity Risk Register, which was introduced in 2023 as part of a new regulatory framework.
The report finds few APP targets relating to cost pressures and the availability of accommodation. With average rent in the capital now outstripping even the maximum student maintenance loan entitlement, and cost concerns constraining student choice, these systemic factors pose material barriers to HE progression regionally. The scale of their impact is not reflected in the widening participation strategies of London-based providers.
In addition, the report shows that access-related APP targets have markedly reduced in London since the OfS introduced its new regulatory framework. This suggests the region’s longstanding record of widening access to higher education may be under threat without suitable infrastructure that enables the work to be sustained in a targeted and efficient way.
Although the OfS strongly encourages collaboration as part of APPs, the collaborative commitments identified in the report are more transactional in nature, with relatively little evidence of deep, sustained work or engagement with the region’s Uni Connect partnership.
As the report makes clear, this situation is not attributable to a lack of commitment or effort on the part of individual higher education providers. Rather, it illustrates a ‘structural gap’ in the current regulatory framework: the sector lacks a mechanism to ensure coordinated action on regional equality of opportunity challenges. Introducing this was a stated aim of the proposed Regional Access Partnerships, on which the OfS recently consulted as a potential successor initiative to Uni Connect.
To address this, the report calls for:
- A reformed role for London’s Uni Connect partnership, enabling it to better coordinate interventions across the capital. Its role in supporting providers with evaluation and building the regional evidence base for interventions should also be strengthened.
- The development of a London-specific Equality of Opportunity Risk Register, to underpin regional coordination. This should be done through consultation with HE providers, local authorities, schools, colleges, third sector organisations and student groups.
- Regional delivery of highly targeted interventions, for instance those that serve smaller or dispersed groups who are underrepresented in HE, such as care leavers, young adult carers, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students, and students from service family backgrounds. This would be more resource-efficient and reduce burden on individual providers.
Commenting on the report, Professor Antony Moss, lead author, Group Executive Director and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and Learners) at London South Bank University and Chair of the London Uni Connect partnership, said: “Our analysis shows that while individual universities are doing what the regulatory framework asks of them, the sum of those efforts is falling short of what students and learners actually need. Too much activity is concentrated on information and guidance, while the most material barriers for disadvantaged students – particularly cost of living pressures and the availability of affordable accommodation – remain largely unaddressed.
“The Equality of Opportunity Risk Register is a powerful tool, but when it is only applied institution by institution, it cannot capture or tackle risks that are fundamentally regional in nature. Our findings highlight a structural gap in the current approach: persistent inequalities that no single provider can resolve alone.
“Although our report is rooted in the London context, the issues it exposes are not unique to the capital. The case for a regional, risk-based approach to access and participation is relevant across England, particularly in areas where costs, capacity and local opportunity structures shape who can realistically participate in higher education.
“In that sense, our findings speak directly to the Office for Students’ recently published outcomes from its consultation on Regional Access Partnerships, which recognise the need for stronger place-based collaboration and shared ownership of equality risks at regional level. Our analysis provides a practical, evidence-informed model for how that ambition could be realised – complementing provider-level plans with coordinated regional action that is capable of reducing inequality at scale.”
Dr Richard Boffey, Head of AccessHE at London Higher, said: “This report poses an important and timely question as we approach the mid-way point of current Access and Participation Plans: are they lending strategic focus to widening participation work at a regional level? On the evidence the report provides, it would appear not. As it shows, institutions in London are focussing their APPs on inequalities it is within their gift to address, rather than those that pose the greatest equality of opportunity risk regionally.
“This is not the fault of providers, who, in the absence of genuine incentives to collaborate regionally, are responding logically and directing their limited resources towards equality challenges they feel most able to tackle alone. But a more joined-up approach is possible, and the common-sense recommendations this report puts forward show how this can be realised, building on the vital infrastructure we already have in the form of London’s Uni Connect partnership and London Higher, the longest-standing regional HE network in the country.”
Professor Julie Hall, Vice-Chancellor of London Metropolitan University and London Higher Board Lead for Access and Widening Participation, said: “London Metropolitan University is proud of our record opening up higher education opportunities to students from lower-income households, whose studies prove transformative to their future earnings and life chances. But in my role leading the institution, I see just how challenging issues such as cost pressures have become for students, both at London Met and across the region. And I recognise there is only so much that institutions can do to mitigate these when working in isolation.
“I therefore welcome this report’s proposals for improving the regional coordination of access and participation work, to drive increased focus on key risks in London, such as the costs associated with studying. Supporting HE providers to make judicious choices about how and where to collaborate in their regions will improve efficiency and ultimately help them fulfil the role government is asking of them in mission-driven efforts to deliver inclusive growth.”