University leaders have hit back against accusations that they are failing to attract students from deprived backgrounds, claiming that the responsibility cannot lie with them alone.
It comes after figures showed that students from the poorest areas made up a tiny fraction of the intake at the top universities in Scotland. The University of St Andrews, alma mater of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, recruits the lowest proportion — 2.7 per cent last year, or 13 students.
The National Union of Students has criticised universities for failing to be more inclusive, but yesterday universities defended themselves, pointing out that the die had been cast years ago.
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “We are dealing with major systemic problems. If you look at the attainment of five-year-olds, you find some absolutely shocking differences according to whether they’re from a challenged background of not.”
St Andrews also went on the offensive. For every three offers it makes to students from deprived backgrounds in Scotland, only one is accepted, despite “significant” levels of scholarship support. It also conducts outreach work, but a spokesman said that progress was limited as the university was acting “in isolation”. He said: “If this challenge continues to be laid at the door of universities, it will never be properly met. It requires a concerted national effort on health, employment, housing and a culture of attainment at all levels of Scottish education to equip young people with the grades they need to gain entry and succeed at university.”
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However, Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said that the figures his organisation had gathered using Freedom of Information legislation were “shocking” and should be a “wake-up call”. They showed that three of the country’s four oldest universities, including St Andrews, took in fewer than 100 Scottish students from deprived backgrounds in 2010-11. The universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen admitted 91 and 51 students respectively.
Universities are currently negotiating agreements on widening access with the Scottish Funding Council. Last year the Scottish government said that universities must sign access agreements to receive public money.