Participation in HE

This report by the DIUS presents an analysis of the relationship between prior attainment and
young participation by gender, socio-economic class and ethnicity

• Historically, women had been under-represented in Higher Education. By 1992, however, the Age Participation Index suggested that young women’s participation rates had caught up with those of men. The 2005/06 Higher Education Initial Participation Rate figures showed a 7.2 percentage participation gap in favour of women - a gap which appears to continue to widen.
• This gender gap does not appear at the point of entry to Higher Education, and can be observed early on in the educational system. In 2007, 65% of girls achieved 5+ A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, compared to 55.8% of boys. Girls are also more likely to stay on in full-time education at age 16 (82% of girls and 72% of boys). They are more likely to be entered for A levels, more likely to pass them, and also more likely to do better than boys.
• For young people (18-19 year olds) who are English-domiciled and who did not attend an independent school in Year 11, we find no conclusive evidence of a gender difference in the likelihood of participating in HE - once prior attainment is controlled for and hence, efforts to reduce the gender gap in HE participation should predominantly be aimed at increasing the relative attainment of young men prior to HE.
• We find that young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are overwhelmingly more likely to enter HE compared to White people with the same prior attainment. In the case of young people who were eligible for FSM, we find that prior attainment explains the vast majority of the gap in participation compared to non-FSM pupils. In both cases this suggests that something else affects the likelihood to participate in HE, over and above prior attainment.