§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What percentage of university entrants were from social groups C2, D and E, (a) in 2002; (b) in 1992; (c) in 1982; and (d) in 1972. [HL2705]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)The available information on the social class of higher education students covers only those who apply to full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and its predecessor organisations, the Universities Central Council for Admissions (UCCA) and the Polytechnic and Colleges Admissions Service (PCAS). The proportions of accepted applicants who came from the skilled manual, semi-skilled and unskilled social classes were 26 per cent in 1992 and 28 per cent in 2001; comparable figures for earlier years are not held centrally. In 2002, following a major review of government social classifications commissioned by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a new socio-economic classification was introduced, which is not directly comparable with the social class figures for previous years. The socioeconomic classification is derived from the individual's occupation, employment status, and the size of the organisation in which they work, whereas social class was based on their occupation only; and it uses an updated list of occupations.
However, figures are available for participation rates by social class back to the 1970s, and these are shown in the table below. Participation rates express the number of young people in higher education, as a proportion of the total number of young people in the general population.
The Government are committed to raising the participation rates for people from less affluent backgrounds, and have introduced the Excellence Challenge, including the AimHigher campaign, which is targeted at raising attainment and aspirations among young people who traditionally would not consider going to university.
Age Participation Rates1 for social classes IIIm, IV, and V2 Year API 1970 5% 1980 7% 1990 10% 2000 18% 1 The API is defined as the number of UK domiciled under 21 initial entrants to full-time and sandwich courses expressed as a proportion of the averaged 18–19 year old GB population. 2 Skilled Manual (IIIm), Semi-skilled (IV), and Unskilled (V).