Top Universities pledge support for care leavers and disadvantaged young people
Oxford and Cambridge universities are aiming to improve opportunities for disadvantaged young people into higher education
Top universities in the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge, have pledged more support for care leavers to get more disadvantaged young people into higher education.
The Russell Group, which represents Oxford and Cambridge as well as many of the most selective universities in the UK, has also set out a plan to improve the transparency and consistency of policies for contextual offers.
In a report, the group of 24 research-intensive universities made a series of commitments to improve access for under-represented students.
It comes after Universities UK (UUK), which represents 141 universities, recently called for evidence to better understand how universities use contextual admissions - which take into account a student's circumstances and background to recognise the barriers they have faced.
Russell Group universities will now launch a taskforce to develop practical methods to "bring consistency to the language used" for contextual admissions policies across their institutions.
All Russell Group universities have said they will provide a tailored support package for all care leaver students - including accommodation support, bursaries and contextual admissions.
Care leavers are a "disproportionately under-represented" group across higher education (HE), with just 14% of care leavers in higher education by the age of 19 in 2021/22 compared to 47% of the wider population, the report from the group said.
A lack of a stable family network to fall back on for financial help or emotional support means they may require greater pastoral care, and they may need year-round accommodation.
Once in place, the Russell Group universities have said they will extend this support package to care-experienced and estranged students to help them gain access to university and deal with the additional challenges they face during their studies.
It comes after Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson called on universities in January to "play a stronger role" in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.
Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said: "As educational inequalities have grown at school level since the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, it's more important than ever that universities are ambitious in their attempts to close these gaps and remove barriers for students with the potential to thrive at university.
"Care-experienced students remain one of the most under-represented groups in higher education, with specific challenges particularly around finances and independent living.
"That's why we've made this commitment to make sure all our universities are offering a tailored package of support, so these students get the assistance they need not just to gain a place, but to thrive at university with the right resources."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: "Through our ambitious Plan for Change we will restore universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration and growth.
"We know there are baked-in inequalities and regional disparities that remain in our education system, which is why we are demanding that providers play a stronger role in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students. We welcome this commitment from Russell Group universities.
"We aim to publish our plans for HE reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy White Paper in the summer, as we fix the foundations of higher education to deliver change for students."