Raising aspirations - and debt

As calls to improve access to HE clash with rising student debt, Jennifer Currie asks if 'junior universities' can help.

Do not worry if you keep hearing the pitter-patter of tiny feet echoing down the hallowed hallways of your institution, you are not the only one. In line with government drives to improve access and broaden participation, universities have been bending over backwards in order to prove to younger generations that higher education actually exists.

That the birth of the junior university should coincide with the growth of the financial burdens that students shoulder is almost ironic. In fact, the National Union of Students predicts that the average graduate debt could be anything up to Pounds 12,000 by next year, when tuition fees and the end of maintenance grants start to make their presence felt.

But the prospect of stiff monthly loan repayments should not discourage potential applicants from entering higher education, according to the academics intent on attracting them there. Pat White, a student recruitment manager at the University of Teesside, said that the aim of schemes such as Meteor, Teesside's own schools programme, is to raise the aspirations of children rather than to boost university application rates. "Only 5 per cent of young people in central Middlesborough go to university at present. But if we can win over more young children to value education past the compulsory stages we hope to improve the participation rates," Ms White said.

"There are a lot of difficult issues involved and we don't avoid them. But because the pupils get to mix with students who have financial problems but still manage to get involved in schemes like this they are comfortable with the fact that debt is attached to a university education," she added.

Yet a survey of secondary school pupils by researchers at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside's policy studies unit found that applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds thought that a university education was financially impossible.

Researcher John Knowles said: "Educational success in disadvantaged areas is not a currency that can be used to buy into a better future."

Government figures confirm that just 17 per cent of young people from lower socioeconomic groups enter higher education, compared with 45 per cent from non-manual groups. As a Sutton Trust report recently revealed, pupils from private schools are nearly 30 times more likely to be offered a place at one of Britain's top 13 universities than their counterparts from disadvantaged schools. But if research proves that children cannot be convinced to value education, and that even if they do, they are unlikely to get a place in a high-profile institution, why do the universities continue to pump resources and funding into projects involving the under-tens?

More than 700 primary children have passed through Teesside University's Meteor programme in the past two years, and although the summer schools and activities - such as a day trip to London to meet Tony Blair - are paid for by the single regeneration fund, the university must match-fund this investment in terms of staff costs.

"It is a big commitment on behalf of the university as we have to provide facilities, staff and resources, and there is no telling that we will gain from it at all. But we think it is worth it," Ms White said. "The scheme has captured the imagination of the town and people from all walks of life have got involved."

Meanwhile, Salford University is collaborating in a Pounds 100,000 project with a number of specialist organisations to build a virtual environment parachute descent simulator. From the autumn, school children will use the facility to learn about airflow and air resistance - subjects that would be harder to grasp if taught straight out of a textbook. Yet Nick Avis, director of Salford's centre for virtual environments, said that the primary motivation behind the project was not to encourage the scientists of the future.

"Obviously we hope to be able to stimulate people to become interested in science, but we did not set up this project with the overt intention of making the university more attractive to school children," Professor Avis admitted. "Universities must act responsibly as the ivory tower days are now long gone. They should be used as a regional resource."

Yet academics are not the only ones giving up their spare time. As part of its community action programme, Nottingham University Students Union has set up a number of twinning programmes with local disadvantaged and inner-city schools in an attempt to dismantle the little rich kid stereotypes that shape attitudes towards higher education. James Ballard, NUSU's vice-president, leads the schools and community action mentoring project.

"We send students out to spend time in schools in the hope that we can break down some of the aspirational barriers that stop people from coming to university. We tell the kids that people from poorer backgrounds can go to university and show them that they have a right to do so," Mr Ballard said. "We have found that many children want to go into the workplace right away so that they can start supporting their families. So we try to show them that they will be likely to earn more if they have a degree behind them."

A Pounds 7,000 grant means that the students can show the children different aspects of university life when they visit Nottingham's campus, from student union discos to inter-school sports challenges.

"Our projects have had limited success in the short term, but it is only if we can get kids when they are young enough and manage to break down some of these psychological conceptions that we can really start to make long-term headway," Mr Ballard said. "If we want to widen access and participation, student-led schemes like this have a prominent part to play. More importantly, every institution should run one."

Yet it could be argued that simply showing school pupils around a campus is not enough to convince them to take up the challenges of student life. School pupils in Leicestershire can now complete a Progression Accord, an agreement between Leicester, Loughborough and De Montfort universities, which is accepted for reduced entry into a mixture of more than 200 courses across the three institutions.

A variety of elements can trigger the accord, including communication skills, career planning and university one-day "taster courses", with the aim of attracting students with no experience of higher education in their families.

Janet Graham, director of admissions and student recruitment at the University of Leicester, agreed that widening participation needs to rest on more tangible foundations.

"Because the students work towards identifiable goals and can get four points off their course entry requirements, they feel as if they are really achieving something," Ms Graham said. "We pulled the scheme together because we realised that key skills needed to be recognised in addition to academic knowledge. Many of the students that progress through the scheme have no facilities to study at home, so we reward them for extra work carried out in class. They might not come to university otherwise."

Resting at the heart of the debate is the reluctant admission that despite best intentions, long-established practices will not simply change overnight.

While Bradford University established a programme for inner-city school children back in 1994, the first students to benefit from the scheme are starting to emerge only now. Geoff Layer, professor of lifelong learning at Bradford, said that "quick fixes" are not an option open to universities.

"If we are to see major change it is crucial that we have planned and sustainable development with a local flavour. Although it is possible to change the regulations for the sector it does not ensure the necessary cultural change."

Oxford furore, page 8

* GETTING THE RIGHT START IN MED SCHOOL

Beverley Clay is "an ordinary mother with an ordinary daughter who went to an ordinary school" who believes children from state schools have a tougher route into medical schools than children from privileged backgrounds.

Her daughter, Sarah, 19, a first-year medical student at Leeds University, attended a Leeds open day for sixth-formers to prepare them for the admissions procedure.

Her son, Patrick, 17, hopes to follow the same route. "The open days can't cover every aspect of the process, but they make students think about why they want to be doctors and allow them to speak to staff and students about the profession," says Ms Clay.

Leeds University charges Pounds 21 for a place on the course. Nottingham University's Med-Link, a longer introductory course that includes a formal interview, costs over Pounds 150.

"I was prepared to pay for the Med-Link course as well because it gives students a distinct advantage, but we didn't find the money easily. Most of the students in Sarah's year come from private schools with good links. It's an uphill struggle to compete against that," she says.