Wonkhe presents
Access all areas
Getting in and getting on in a diversifying education system
The Mermaid
Get DirectionsThe best possible version of Westminster and devolved governments’ post-compulsory education policy is the expansion of higher education opportunity. In England, the lifelong loan entitlement, a boost for higher technical education and apprenticeships, and new opportunities for digitally enhanced and flexible learning appear to offer the prospect of a greater diversity of options and pathways post-18.
In Wales, the new tertiary education legislation promises a more joined-up post-18 sector . And Scotland will argue it’s always led the way on articulation between FE and HE but as last year’s review of tertiary education and research concluded, there’s space for a longer term vision for colleges and universities.
But the reality is that public funding is constrained across the UK, that policymakers struggle to join up thinking and action between siloed sectors, and that when it comes to education opportunity, culture eats policy for breakfast. And with the Westminster government redefining social mobility, and mooting student number controls and minimum eligibility requirements for degree-level study, there’s some scepticism about whether there is really a sustained commitment to access.
At this in-person event we’ll assess the current access and participation landscape and consider what will need to change in terms of outreach, information, advice, and guidance, partnerships and pathways between providers, and on-course student support to sustain and grow education opportunity in the years ahead. We’ll bring together policymakers and practitioners to work through the challenges, and identify the things that will make the most difference to future students’ ability to get in and get on. And we’ll round it all off with a party where you can digest what you’ve heard with like-minded colleagues.
Default title
Wonkhe presents
Access all areas
Getting in and getting on in a diversifying education system
The Mermaid
Get DirectionsThe best possible version of Westminster and devolved governments’ post-compulsory education policy is the expansion of higher education opportunity. In England, the lifelong loan entitlement, a boost for higher technical education and apprenticeships, and new opportunities for digitally enhanced and flexible learning appear to offer the prospect of a greater diversity of options and pathways post-18.
In Wales, the new tertiary education legislation promises a more joined-up post-18 sector . And Scotland will argue it’s always led the way on articulation between FE and HE but as last year’s review of tertiary education and research concluded, there’s space for a longer term vision for colleges and universities.
But the reality is that public funding is constrained across the UK, that policymakers struggle to join up thinking and action between siloed sectors, and that when it comes to education opportunity, culture eats policy for breakfast. And with the Westminster government redefining social mobility, and mooting student number controls and minimum eligibility requirements for degree-level study, there’s some scepticism about whether there is really a sustained commitment to access.
At this in-person event we’ll assess the current access and participation landscape and consider what will need to change in terms of outreach, information, advice, and guidance, partnerships and pathways between providers, and on-course student support to sustain and grow education opportunity in the years ahead. We’ll bring together policymakers and practitioners to work through the challenges, and identify the things that will make the most difference to future students’ ability to get in and get on. And we’ll round it all off with a party where you can digest what you’ve heard with like-minded colleagues.
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Agenda
9.30 – Welcome and setting the scene with Debbie McVitty, Editor of Wonkhe
9.45 – 10.45 – John Blake in conversation + Q&A
John Blake is the new Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students and in this opening session, will set out his priorities and agenda for the coming months and years in conversation with Wonkhe’s editor in chief Mark Leach.
10.45 – 11.30 What are the debates and trends shaping tertiary education participation?
A more coherent post-compulsory education system should help to tackle longstanding disadvantages – but whose disadvantage and in what form? So much of the discussion about who should be taking what kinds of qualifications is coded, with social class and the needs of left behind places jostling with anxiety about skills shortages and a growing social divide between “liberal” university-educated elites and everyone else. This session will explore the evidence behind the policy debate, and ask how these broader trends are framing access and participation work.
11.30 – 12.00 Break
12.00 – 13.00 Who are the future students and what’s informing their choices about HE options?
Post-Covid, Gen Y, always online, always opinionated? Information-rich, time-poor, debt-averse, image-focused? More of the same? First in family? First in community? It’s so easy to generalise about generations, or to assume that experiences and expectations don’t change over time. Knowing who prospective students talk to, what they value, where they get information, and what they expect from higher education is key to providing the kind of experience that suits them. But short of asking every single one of them to – well, fill in a UCAS form – we need to be selective in where we find information like this. This session will point you in the right direction.
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.45 Getting in: Inspiring approaches to access.
14.45 – 15.30 Getting on: student diversity, experience, quality and outcomes.
15.30 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.00 What does social mobility mean in 2022?
Universities have long positioned themselves as engines of social mobility, but recent data challenges some of the gloss – who you are and what you study is still influencing access to graduate work, higher salaries, and the professions. Westminster higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan has said that “true social mobility” can also be found in alternatives to university, but those alternatives remain untested at scale. Yet a university education is a powerful cultural symbol of aspiration and opportunity – something that all governments recognise and undermine at their peril. Our expert panel will think through what the promise of education has to offer in 2022, and how we should think about the future for social mobility in the UK.
17.15 Drinks reception and party
Speakers
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![]( "John\'s role is to ensure universities and colleges are doing all they can to support learners from all backgrounds, especially the most disadvantaged, to access and succeed in higher education. John is an executive member of the OfS board.")
John Blake
Director for Fair Access & Participation, Office for StudentsJohn’s role is to ensure universities and colleges are doing all they can to support learners from all backgrounds, especially the most disadvantaged, to access and succeed in higher education. John is an executive member of the OfS board.
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![]( "Clare is chief executive of UCAS.")
Clare Marchant
Chief Executive, UCASClare has been UCAS Chief Executive since 2017 and feels privileged to lead it through a period of
dramatic digital transformation which puts students at the centre of all it provides, from admissions
through to information and advice, data analysis and insights and the provision of commercial
products and services through UCAS Media. Clare started her career within manufacturing, before
moving to management consultancy with Deloitte, then central and local government, latterly as
Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Council. She graduated from Hull University in 1993 and
gained a MSc from the Open University in 1998. -
Natalie Perera
Chief Executive, Education Policy InstituteNatalie is the Chief Executive of the Education Policy Institute, an independent research institute which she co-founded in 2016. Prior to that, Natalie worked in the Department for Education where she led on research and policy interventions including on narrowing the gap between disadvantaged children and the rest and reform of the school funding system. … Continued
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Geoff Layer
Chair of the Disabled Students' Commission and former VC at University of WolverhamptonGeoff Layer has recently retired as Vice Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton, having worked for over 40 years in higher education. He is now working on strategic development for Coventry University. Prior to becoming the longest serving Vice Chancellor of University of Wolverhampton, Geoff was Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at Bradford University having moved … Continued
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![]( "Sam is a senior adviser to the education charity Ark and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government. Previously he was CEO of Education Partnerships Group, which supports governments in sub-Saharan Africa to develop education policy and was an executive director at Teach First. He worked at the Department for Education as a senior policy adviser to Michael Gove between 2010 and 2013.")
Sam Freedman
Senior adviser, ArkSam is a senior adviser to the education charity Ark and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government. Previously he was CEO of Education Partnerships Group, which supports governments in sub-Saharan Africa to develop education policy and was an executive director at Teach First. He worked at the Department for Education as a senior … Continued
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![]( "Sinead is Deputy Director, Higher Education at Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government")
Sinead Gallangher
Deputy Director, Higher Education at Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh GovernmentSinead is Deputy Director, Higher Education at Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government
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Bronwyn Parry
Director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme, KCLBronwyn Parry is professor of global health and social medicine and director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme at King’s College London. Bronwyn leads the university’s response to the global issue of forced displacement which affects more than 80 million people worldwide. Bronwyn was academic lead for the PADILEIA programme from 2016-19 and in her role … Continued
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Graeme Atherton
Director, National Education Opportunities Network, UWLDirector of NEON
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![]( "Leonie Ansems de Vries is a reader in international politics, chair of the Migration Research Group, and co-director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme at King’s College London. She has published widely on the politics of borders and migration. She is writing a monograph on the politics of exhaustion in Europe, which examines the ways in which exhaustion is employed as a tool of governance to control people forced to move and how it is endured and resisted as a lived experience.")
Leonie Ansems de Vries
Co-Director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme, KCLLeonie Ansems de Vries is a reader in international politics, chair of the Migration Research Group, and co-director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme at King’s College London. She has published widely on the politics of borders and migration. She is writing a monograph on the politics of exhaustion in Europe, which examines the ways in … Continued
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![]( "Peter Scott is Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland, and Professor of Higher Education Studies at the UCL Institute of Education and a former Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University.")
Peter Scott
Commissioner for Fair Access in ScotlandPeter Scott is Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland, and Professor of Higher Education Studies at the UCL Institute of Education and a former Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University.
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Charlie Ball
Head of higher education intelligence, JiscCharlie Ball is Head of higher education intelligence at Jisc. He is the in-house specialist on the graduate labour market. He researches and analyses all things to do with post-18 employment, including regional economies, skills supply and demand and postgraduate issues, usually with a careers and employability perspective. He also sits on a number of … Continued
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Yana Williams
Chief Executive, Coleg CambriaYana Williams became Chief Executive of Coleg Cambria in January 2020. She was educated at both primary and secondary school level in Mold, and completed her A level studies at the former Deeside College. An alumnus of Cardiff Metropolitan University, her first teaching role was at Knowsley Community College in Liverpool. She later moved to … Continued
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Cathy Mitchell
Head of Market Insight & Analysis, Heriot-Watt UniversityCathy Mitchell is Head of Market Insight & Analysis at Heriot Watt University. In this role she focuses on transforming the university’s degree portfolio and marketing and recruitment activities, to be more strategic and market led across the Heriot-Watt campuses in Scotland, Dubai and Malaysia. She is a New America/Jacob’s Foundation Fellow of the Learning … Continued
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![]( "your default content")
Evan Botwood
President, UWE Students' Unionyour default content
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![]( "your default content")
Rania Regaieg
VP Community and Welfare, UWE Students' Unionyour default content
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![]( "Mark Leach is the founder, Editor in Chief and CEO of Wonkhe. Mark worked in policy, politics and public affairs in and around UK higher education and founded Wonkhe in 2011 while working as a jobbing policy wonk in the sector. The first part of his career took him to the National Union of Students, HEFCE, University Alliance, GuildHE as well as a stint in politics as a special adviser to the former Shadow Minister for Universities & Science. Mark began full-time work on Wonkhe in mid-2014 growing it into a thriving business. As CEO, Mark is responsible for running and developing Wonkhe and as Editor in Chief oversees Wonkhe’s editorial platforms. You can read more about everything that Wonkhe does here.")
Mark Leach
Founder & Editor in Chief, Wonkhe and former Labour adviserMark Leach is the founder, Editor in Chief and CEO of Wonkhe. Mark worked in policy, politics and public affairs in and around UK higher education and founded Wonkhe in 2011 while working as a jobbing policy wonk in the sector. The first part of his career took him to the National Union of Students, … Continued
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![]( "Debbie McVitty is Editor of Wonkhe. Debbie is a former chief of staff at Universities UK, director of policy at the University of Bedfordshire, and head of policy at the National Union of Students, and is a founding member of Wonkhe’s editorial group.")
Debbie McVitty
Editor, WonkheDebbie McVitty, Editor, Wonkhe
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![]( "David Kernohan is Associate Editor of Wonkhe. Until June 2016, he worked at Jisc as a programme manager and senior codesign manager, after being seconded from HEFCE in 2006. He has also worked for the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). As Associate Editor, David has responsibility for the development and delivery of a variety of editorial content. His key areas of wonkishness include teaching quality enhancement policy, funding policy, sector agency politics and history, research policy, and the use of technology and data in Higher Education.")
David Kernohan
Associate Editor, WonkheDavid Kernohan is Associate Editor of Wonkhe. Until June 2016, he worked at Jisc as a programme manager and senior codesign manager, after being seconded from HEFCE in 2006. He has also worked for the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). As Associate Editor, David has responsibility for the development and delivery … Continued
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Jim Dickinson
Associate Editor, WonkheJim is an Associate Editor at Wonkhe and takes a particular interest in the student experience, university governance, and regulation – and leads our work with students’ unions. His career background is in support for student leadership. He has held senior roles at the National Union of Students – where he led on SU development, … Continued
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Sunday Blake
Associate Editor, WonkheSunday Blake is President at Exeter Guild of Students
