Impact and effectiveness of widening access to HE in Wales

Access to higher education (HE) has become an extremely controversial area of policy, as successive UK administrations have sought to balance increasing student fees with ensuring that HE is open to individuals from as wide a range of social backgrounds as possible. Moreover, relatively distinctive approaches have been adopted in the different devolved administrations of the UK. For example, currently, the Welsh Government has undertaken to pay the increased costs to students arising from the abolition of the fees cap. However, the evidence-base for evaluating different approaches to widening access is relatively weak. Accordingly, the Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Welsh Government (WG) are collaborating to develop an innovative research study in this field.
The proposed research will analyse how individuals who are resident in Wales progress through secondary school, into sixth forms and further education colleges for post-16 education and on to HE. It will also explore what are the key factors here in determining whether individuals progress through the education system to HE or not. What are the relative impacts of the social characteristics of individuals, their previous educational attainment and their progression through the education system? What does this imply for the effects of barriers at the point of entry to HE, such as fees levels, entry processes and so forth? Answers to these questions are known for England, but not for other parts of the UK.
The analysis will be based on the innovative use of three linked sources of information, the data for each of which are collected initially for administrative purposes. These are: the National Pupil Database (NPD) for Wales; the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR); and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. By linking these together, it will be possible to trace individual trajectories through the education system to entry to HE. It will also be possible to compare systematically the trajectories of those who do participate in HE with those who do not. Moreover, using sophisticated statistical techniques, it will be possible to determine which are the most influential factors in shaping patterns of HE participation. Results here will be compared with those that have been produced by similar analyses in England.
A second part of the proposed study (funded by additional resources made available by the HEFCW) will investigate the development of distinctive approaches to widening access to HE by successive Welsh administrations since devolution in 1999. Of key significance here will be to establish the rationales that underpin the approaches adopted in Wales; and to compare these with those that have informed policy approaches in the other countries of the UK and England, in particular. In addition, the study will examine the ways in which national policies have been implemented by the Welsh universities, paying special attention to the assumptions about the determinants of HE participation that are in play here. This part of the study will be based on fieldwork, comprising the analysis of official and semi-official documents and interviews with politicians and senior officials responsible for widening-access policies; and with the professionals inside the universities responsible for implementing these policies.
The results of the research will be fed directly into the deliberations of the WG and the HEFCW on the future development of policies on widening access to HE, which will be especially intensive over the next few years. Moreover, they will also provide the basis for working with the professionals in the universities with responsibility for implementing widening-access policies, to integrate the use of analyses of administrative data more firmly into their day-to-day practices.

The proposed study is based on a close collaboration between WISERD, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Welsh Government (WG). Both user organisations - and especially the HEFCW - have been involved in the development of the proposed study's aims and its design. The HEFCW is therefore contributing resources to maximise the impact of the secondary data analysis being proposed. This close relationship will be maintained throughout the project, by means of monthly meetings to monitor progress and evaluate the implications of emerging research results. An Advisory Group will enable the engagement of a wider range of stakeholders.
The results of the proposed research will be fed directly into deliberations over national policy within the WG and into policy development by the HEFCW. In the longer term, then, the proposed research has the potential to contribute towards increasing overall levels of participation in HE by individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. This would be congruent with the current WG's overall ambition of 'realising learners' potential' and 'reducing inequalities in education', as set out in the 2011 Programme for Government; as well as with the HEFCW's commitment to use widening access to HE as a means of alleviating social and economic disadvantage (HEFCW, 2012). These considerations will be especially pertinent at a time when the WG will be evaluating the implications of its distinctive approach to raising student fees for patterns of access to HE, as the effects of raising the fees cap are felt across the UK (Andrews, 2010). Similarly, the research will provide an important input to HEFCW's revision of its widening access strategies during the period up until Spring 2014.
In addition to the ongoing engagement of the HEFCW and the WG in the proposed study, results will be communicated through a series of Research Reports, published via the WISERD web-site (see 'Pathways to Impact' for details). There will also be a policy seminar with the HEFCW and the WG at the end of the project, when the implications of its results will be considered systematically. It is also recognised that widening access to HE is an issue of considerable significance in civil society more widely. Therefore, a national conference will be organised, again at the end of the proposed study, in order to stimulate wider debate. WISERD's established relationships with think-tanks, such as the Bevan Foundation and the Institute of Welsh Affairs, will be drawn upon to facilitate this event (as well as other forms of dissemination). It is hoped that the proposed research may stimulate a 'national debate' on access to HE.
More immediately, the proposed study aims to assist the WG and the HEFCW deliver the following objectives in widening access to HE in Wales: 'propose relevant indicators, targets and milestones; decisively tackle shortcomings in institutional strategy and delivery; and contribute to a strong constructive relationship between the Government, HEFCW and the HE community.' (Welsh Assembly Government (2009), pp. 20-21) In particular, it will demonstrate the utility of secondary data analysis (SDA) in developing the technical means by which to evaluate widening-access policies. Moreover, a notable feature of the proposed study is that it aims to contribute not only at this national level of policy-making, but also to the implementation of widening-access strategies within the Welsh higher education institutions (HEIs). Utilising the funding made available by the HEFCW, the research will provide guidance, support and training in the use of large-scale secondary data for future monitoring of widening-access strategies in Welsh HEIs. Of key importance here will be a series of workshops with Welsh HEIs, which will consider the implications of the proposed research for the day-to-day practices of the professionals responsible for implementing widening-access strategies at this level.