Understanding inequity in tertiary education in Wales

Tertiary education refers to post-16 learning – sixth forms, further education, higher education, apprenticeships and adult community learning.

Medr, the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, has a duty to address these inequalities and promote equality of opportunity across the whole of the tertiary education sector. More broadly, Medr is responsible for the funding, overseeing and regulation of tertiary education within Wales.

The Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) was commissioned by the Welsh Government in 2022 to support Medr by drawing on relevant available expertise, evidence and best practice to help identify the structures, processes, mechanisms and incentives most likely to drive equality of opportunity in the tertiary sector in Wales. To do this, we considered the following topics:

1. Which groups are currently under-represented in tertiary education in Wales, drawing on the best available data?
2. What evidence is available from other UK nations and Ireland on what works in promoting equity in tertiary education?
3. Which interventions could best redress these inequalities?

To respond to the first topic, we worked with ADR Wales to undertake a data analysis, exploring which groups are under-represented within tertiary education and how. For the second topic, we conducted an evidence review of relevant policy and practice approaches employed to improve equity in tertiary education in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Finally, we invited four leading experts to reflect on what can be done to improve equity in tertiary education in Wales given the data analysis and evidence review, resulting in the following thinkpieces:

• Barriers to participation in a Welsh and UK context, by Luke Sibieta;
• Overcoming barriers to participation in adult and lifelong education, by Joshua Miles;
• The potential for contextualised admissions to reduce inequities in higher education, by Professor Vikki Boliver; and
• Policy and practice approaches for Medr, by Professor Ellen Hazelkorn

Whilst distinct, these outputs share cross-cutting themes for Medr to consider:

• Access is unequal: Access to tertiary education in Wales is not equal among learners. Young people from more socio-economically deprived backgrounds are less likely to progress to tertiary education, and more likely to access vocational rather than academic routes. Learners from more socio-economically deprived backgrounds are also less likely to take up higher-level apprenticeships. Disabled people are also considerably less likely to progress to tertiary education. Young women are much more likely to access academic routes than young men, as are fluent Welsh language speakers.

• Participation is relatively low: Higher education participation at 18 is lower in Wales than any other UK nation, and Welsh young men are the least likely to attend university. There is therefore a need to understand what is driving the difference in participation rates, particularly given the high and rising rate of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training.
• The evidence of ‘what works’ is limited: Some interventions show promise. However, there is a need to continue to evaluate the success of existing widening participation initiatives in light of Wales’ existing and past commitments in this area. Evidence around widening participation in further education and lifelong learning is much more limited, and further research is needed. Linking education administrative data to earning, employment and benefits data could help to provide greater insights on the relationship between education and adult employment.