Provide year-round accommodation for care leavers, says regulator

English universities should consider guaranteeing year-round accommodation for students who have been in care to help them succeed in higher education, according to the sector regulator.

In a report published on 9 April, the Office for Students calls for institutions to have a “consistent offer” for care leavers that, alongside guaranteed accommodation, could include tailored bursaries or priority access to hardship funding. Other options include priority access to support services and enhanced careers guidance.

The OfS says that it is planning a large multi-year pilot of such an offer in an attempt to “identify the minimum level of support necessary to close the gaps for care experienced students at different stages of the student life cycle”.

These gaps, as outlined in the regulator’s report, include challenges around access: in 2018-19, only 13 per cent of children who had been in care for more than a year were in higher education by age 19 compared to 43 per cent of all other students, and very few were enrolled in highly selective universities.

Once they do enrol, care leavers face significant challenges; the continuation rate for care leavers in 2017-18 was 86.7 per cent, compared to 92.3 per cent among other students. Of care leavers who graduated in 2018-19, only 68.2 per cent achieved a first or 2:1, 12.1 percentage points lower than other students.

However, University of Oxford has research has found that differences in graduate employment rates between care leavers and other students largely disappear once other educational and demographic factors are taken into account.

The OfS report says that a key challenge was “the instability of care experienced people’s educational journeys, generally through no fault of their own”. To succeed, “this group often requires multiple chances, increased flexibility and greater support”, the regulator says.

Admissions processes should take a “rounded view” of applicants’ experiences and challenges, and should include contextualised offers allowing care leavers in with grades lower than other applicants’ where appropriate, the report recommends.

Chris Millward, the OfS’ director for fair access and participation, said that while there were “a number of excellent examples of support for students who have been in care”, there were still “stark disparities in outcomes for this group”.

“We know that the proportion of care experienced students entering into higher education remains substantially lower than [for] the rest of the population, and our data show that they continue to face barriers even once they get there,” Mr Millward said.

“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.”

The OfS is proposing to improve the data that are collected on care leavers, to better monitor their outcomes, and to work with the Centre for Transforming Access and Outcomes in Higher Education to improve the sharing of effective practice.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com